


Love, Maybe

by LovelyMagickPegacorn



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-07 19:11:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1123360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyMagickPegacorn/pseuds/LovelyMagickPegacorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a typical trip to the bookstore, Quinn finds a strange tome which looks very much like a spell book. On a whim, she decides to cast a love spell on Rachel. The results are not what she expects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Quinn was browsing through her local bookstore when she found it, a large black tome with ornate cravings into it. It bore no title, nor any indication of an author. There was nothing about it that could have caught her eye, but it was the mystery surrounding this book that intrigued Quinn enough to pick it up and look inside. The writing was elegant, almost as though it were hand written. It was beautiful. Quinn flipped through the pages, and as she read it became clear that the book in her hand held no story.

No, it didn't tell a tale in some faraway fantasyland as she had hoped. It was better. Then a thought came to mind and she went back to the table of contents to check, if by chance, there was a certain something in this book. As eyes skimmed over the words her lips began to curve upward. Oh, this would be fun and she needed a bit of fun, just a little something to brighten up her mood. She was excited, and although she still kind of needed a new book to read, Quinn quickly made her way to the check-out counter. Besides it's not as though she couldn't just come back the following day if she needed too.

After a hasty transaction she was off, and with purchase in hand she ran for her car and sped home. Thus far, Quinn had had a pretty bad year. She had promised herself that she'd be nicer to Rachel, that she'd try to be friends and slowly build her way up to asking her out. But whenever Rachel was around Quinn would get nervous and scared and thus she would inadvertently revert back into Head Bitch mode.

And that was really just a shame. She had less than a year left before high school was over and that meant less than a year to get things right and to, hopefully, get the girl of her dreams. It was actually kind of pathetic, especially since was now going to hide her head in a book instead of going out there and taking some action. But she hoped that the thing she was about to do would at least help in doing just that. Maybe, just maybe it would give her the courage to go up to Rachel and say something nice to her for a change.

When she finally got home the house was empty, which may have been for the best. She darted upstairs into her room and jumped into her bed. She pulled out her new book, and after rechecking the table of contents, flipped over to the chapter which she looking for; love spells and potions. They weren't real of course, Quinn knew that. Magic didn't really exist but she liked to think that it did. And really, what harm could be done if she used this book as a way to build up some confidence by convincing herself that Rachel loved her back?

It was all just fun and games really. Quinn liked the idea of being a witch… a good witch of course.

She looked through her spell book, examining each spell and potion carefully. There plenty of them and each appeared to have different effects ranging from mere infatuation to lust and everything in between. The effects of some were temporary, others permanent. A couple looked fairly complex and others could be completed with everyday household items. It was actually pretty impressive; how much work someone had put into making a realistic spell book. At the very least, it was well worth the price.

Quinn searched a while longer as she tried to find the ideal spell. Really, any one would have been sufficient for her goal but she was going to play the role of a witch then she was going to do it right. A smirk crept onto her lips as at that moment she began to think of Rachel and her need to fully engulf herself in any role that was presented to her. It was always a cute sight. Quinn shook the idea out of her mind and continued with her efforts.

She scanned through the pages at a steady but fast pace until she found it. "The True Love Spell," she read. The name sounded a bit presumptuous, but given Rachel's theatricality it felt fitting. "When used, the True Love Spell will allow its caster to enchant any man or woman and have that person fall in love with him or her. The enchanted person will then devote themselves entirely to him or her. They will love and care for him or her with all their heart." This was it. Quinn knew it, this was the spell.

She studied the spell more closely and found that a small ritual would be needed to preform it. At the top right corner of the page was a list of ingredients that would be required. She would need candles, the petals of Rachel's favorite flower, a lock of Rachel's hair, and a lock of her own. Candles were simple; she would snag some from her mom, and she could easily cut off some of her hair. Getting Rachel's hair would be a bit more problematic but it was doable. And the flower petals… well, she had an idea of what Rachel's favorite flower was but she didn't know for sure.

It wouldn't take too much work to get what she needed, and it might even be fun. Since her mom wasn't home yet, Quinn decided that it was as good opportunity as any. She got out of her bed and snuck into her mom's room. She went into her closet where she found the box of candles that her mother kept in case of blackouts. There were a couple of scented candles mixed in with the plain ones, and while Quinn was intrigued by the names of some, she stuck with the average non-scented ones.

Quinn picked out a couple of small candles and brought them back to her room after fixing up her mom's closet to make it seem like she hadn't disturbed it at all. And after nabbing a pair of scissors and a quick snip, Quinn had half of what she needed. That was all she would be able to do for the time being so she returned to her spell book and went over how to preform her spell. The instructions were pretty clear. After arranging everything in a particular way she'd have to recite an incantation and it would be done. It seemed simple enough.

She put away what she had gathered so far and grabbed for her backpack. Quinn pulled out her homework and tried to get started on that, but she couldn't focus. Her mind kept drifting back to her spell book. Even if it was all just make-believe, it was actually pretty exciting. Despite her best efforts, Quinn didn't get much done for the rest of the day. Later on she had nice, quiet dinner with her mother. And when night fell Quinn sat in her bed with her covers wrapped around her as she read through her spell book with aid of a flashlight.

It was an amazing piece of work. So much detail and care was put into piecing it together. And the feel of the paper, it was unlike most any other book Quinn had ever held. It felt old and worn as though it would tear at just the slightest action, and yet it was also strong. There was something about this book that Quinn couldn't understand. She stayed for hours, studying it but eventually her body gave out and she fell asleep with her spell book nestled safely in her arms. Quinn awoke with a new sense of purpose. It was a new day, a school day at that, and one where she would need to snatch some of Rachel's hair. With a sigh, she got up from her bed to get ready for what awaited her.

After cleaning up and getting dressed up in her Cheerios uniform Quinn went downstairs and had a nice breakfast with her mother. A few questions were thrown her way about if she knew anything about her mom's candles, but she denied any involvement. It was pretty clear that Judy was skeptical but as long as she didn't find out that her daughter was practicing the occult there would be no harm done. Quinn finished up her meal and after kissing her mother on the cheek she was off.

The drive to school was a tense one. Quinn was nervous. The simplest and most direct way of getting the hair she needed was to pluck it straight out from Rachel's pretty little head. That would hurt and it surely wouldn't help her in her efforts to win Rachel's heart. Quinn could only hope that she'd be able to find a hairbrush, a headband or something of the like to snag some of her locks instead. When she reached the parking lot Quinn sent Brittany a quick text, instructing her to ask Rachel what her favorite flower was. And then after some thought, she sent out another telling Brittany to make sure not to tell Rachel why she was asking. A few seconds later her phone buzzed with a response.

Brittany: Are you finally going to ask her out?!

Quinn's face reddened instantly. She should have expected something like that but she didn't and she wasn't really sure what to say.

Quinn: Maybe.

Going with a vague answered seemed like the best idea. Of course it would all be a bit sudden to just ask Rachel out right now. They weren't even friends yet… or they weren't really friends. They were more under the category of frenemies, kind of. At times it was kind of hard to tell. Her phone buzzed again.

Brittany: You totally should. Then you and Rachel can go on double dates with me and San.

Quinn: We'll see. Are you going to ask her?

Brittany: Sure Q. And don't worry, I'll be discreet.

Quinn smiled as she read her friend's reply. There was no reason to doubt that Brittany wouldn't have done as she asked but she was a little worried. Brittany's definition of discreet wasn't exactly the same as her own. But all the same, Brittany was her only real option. And with that in mind, Quinn headed off to get the last ingredient. With well memorized steps, she made her way to Rachel's locker where she found the brunette grabbing some books out of her locker.

Much to Quinn's displeasure, she wasn't wearing a headband or any hairclips. It looked like she had to do things the hard way. Quinn strode over to her. She kept her eyes straight to keep up appearances, but she carefully watched Rachel out of the corner of her eye. Once she was within range, she reached up for a loose strand of Rachel's hair and tugged. The reaction was instant. Rachel cried out in pain, her hands flying to the back of her head. Immediately Quinn felt bad but she continued to walk until Rachel called out to her. "Quinn! What was that for?!" Quinn spun around on heel to face her. Behind Rachel's anger, Quinn could see tears prickling in her eyes. Now she felt really bad, but she hid her feelings behind a mask of indifference.

"What was what for?" she asked with faux innocence.

"You pulled my hair," Rachel accused to which Quinn scoffed.

"You wish." She spun back around and continued off to class. After rounding a corner she looked down at the lock of hair in her hand. She fully regretted her actions, especially since it was done because of some silly spell. But it was too late to take back her actions now. She took the lock of Rachel's hair and safely tucked it away into her bag.

For the rest of the day, Quinn made certain that Rachel would be left alone. It wouldn't fix anything, but knowing that Rachel was would be okay at least made Quinn feel a little better. And every chance she could, she watched Rachel intently. From what she could tell, Rachel seemed to notice the change and every so often she would rapidly check around her as though what she was experiencing was simply the calm before the storm.

But after a while she came to accept that nothing else bad would happen to her for the rest of the day. She grew more relaxed and stopped checking over her shoulder every few seconds. And during a brief moment when she caught Quinn looking, Rachel looked at her with these big, brown doe eyes. She gave her a smile and a silent thank you, or at least that's what Quinn thought Rachel did. Seeing that smile directed at her, Quinn almost forgot about her spell.

And she would have too if not for the timely arrival of Brittany. "Gardenias!" she said immediately, not even taking the time to say hi. She excited and giddy, practically bouncing with energy. Actually, she was bouncing.

"What?"

"Gardenias," Brittany repeated. "Rachel's favorite flowers are gardenias."

"Gardenias, huh?" So she was right after all.

When school let out Quinn went straight to the flower shop. She bought a single gardenia and then went home. She had everything she needed, and while she stilled hated herself for hurting Rachel there was no reason for her not to go through with her spell. She went up to her room and gathered everything she needed. With careful reference to her spell book, Quinn set everything as needed. She felt like a genuine witch. It was very exciting. To help set the mood, she turned off the light and shut the curtains.

With her lit candles providing the only light, Quinn sat down on the floor of her room. She picked up her spell book and went over the ritual one last time before starting the incantation. "Est purus Amor, amores. Amore mihi, quia te amo." As she spoke the words, Quinn felt… something. It was hard to describe. It was just a feeling, something deep inside her heart. Suddenly a strong gust blew into her room, blowing out the candles and causing the flower petals as well as the locks of her and Rachel's hair to dance about. And then, just as suddenly everything calmed.

Quinn felt out of breath. She got up to check the window, but it was surprisingly closed. Quinn had no idea where that odd wind came from, but she decided not to dwell on it. Her room was in quite the state and she needed to clean it up. After doing just that, she hid her spell book inside her closet. Just like she had thought, it was really fun pretending to be a witch. Maybe she'd try out another spell the following day.


	2. Chapter 2

The day after Quinn cast her love spell on Rachel started off as any other. She got up from bed, cleaned herself up, had breakfast with her mother, and then headed off for school. Aside from the spell book inside her bag there was nothing at all peculiar about it. It was just an average day, at least for a while it was. But things started to get weird after she got to school.

After parking her car Quinn went to her locker. Her spell book was fairly large, bigger than most of her textbooks, and thus it weighed a considerable amount. She probably shouldn't have brought it with her but she didn't want to risk her mom finding it. The two of them were on good terms, but things had gotten tense for a while after Quinn decided to come out to her mom. Suffice to say, Quinn just wanted to play things safe.

Thus she brought her spell book with her. And while it was heavy, it wasn't all bad. At the very least she had something to read during any free time she managed to get or if she got bored. And it was with that thought in mind that she wondered whether or not it would actually be a good idea to leave her spell book inside her locker. The considered the pros and cons for a long time and in the end she decided that she had built up enough upper body strength to lug around an extra book.

Quinn carefully placed her spell book back into her bag and shut her locker. She spun on heel to head off to class only jump backwards into her lockers when she found Rachel standing only a few inches behind her. Out of instinct Quinn almost yelled at her, but she didn't. She wanted to, because really, it was rude to sneak up on people like that but she couldn't. Quinn knew that this year might likely be her last chance and there was no way that she was going to mess it up. "What?" As the word left her lips, Quinn mentally face-palmed. If that was the best that she could have done than would have been better off giving up rather than going through the effort of embarrassing herself.

Luckily though, Rachel seemed unfazed by her one-word, monotonous response. She had a dazzling smile on with her hands shyly tucked behind her back. She ducked her head slightly before offering a small wave and a, "Hi." Her hand once again disappeared behind her and, for a moment, her cheeks seemed to redden. "How has your day been Quinn?"

It took a second for Quinn to register her words, still too focused on the blush that she may or may not have seen. "Um, it's been fine… I guess." It was far too early for say anything else. Although if she was having a bad day, the fact that she was now having a non-hostile conversation with Rachel would have instantly made it better. But she couldn't tell Rachel that. "How about you?" she asked, her voice not completely steady. Rachel's smile widened considerable, so much so that Quinn began to wonder if she would end up hurting her pretty face.

"My day's been splendid!" she happily cheered.

"That's good." Everything was going well, better than she could have hoped for. Quinn would have talked longer, but she was practically pinned up against the wall and that was making her nervous. She slung her bag over her shoulder and decided to make a hasty exit before she made a fool of herself. "I should get to class. Talk to you later." She turned to leave but only made it a step or two before Rachel called out to her.

"Wait!" Quinn immediately halted. She took a breath before turning around.

"Yeah?"

From behind her Rachel revealed a single flower, a gardenia. She handed it to Quinn. "Here, I got this for you." She ducked her head once more and then glanced up at Quinn with these big, brown doe eyes. She looked so beautiful, so captivation, so cute. If Quinn hadn't seen those eyes so many times before her knees would have gone weak. She took the flower and slowly brushed the petals with her thumb.

"It's beautiful. Thank you."

"No, thank you," Rachel replied to which Quinn rose an eyebrow. "It's to say thank you," she explained. "For yesterday. I know what you did, making sure no one teased me, and I appreciate it. It was really nice of you and I just wanted to say thanks."

"Oh, well… you're welcome." Quinn's eyes dropped slightly. Sure, she had done something nice for Rachel but only after doing something mean. Rachel saw the change in her features and tentatively took a hold of her hand. Her hand felt so nice and soft. Quinn couldn't help but notice that their hands seemed to fit together perfectly.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just… thanks for the flower. I love it." Rachel beamed and leapt in for a hug. Quinn practically melted in her arms. Being in Rachel's felt so good. It felt warm and good. It felt like where Quinn belonged. After recovering from her initial shock, Quinn hugged Rachel back, wrapping her arms around her waist. Although difficult, she managed to fight the urge to let her hands drop a couple of inches. They stayed for a few moments with Rachel gently nuzzling into Quinn's neck until she finally let go and ran off.

Quinn's cheeks were burning red but due to Rachel's sudden departure, she didn't seem to notice, which Quinn was eternally grateful for. She spun back around and continued on towards class with glorious smile across her face. She had actually been afraid that Rachel would reject any attempt of friendship after being turned down so many times in the past, but as it seemed that was not at all the case. For the first time in a long time, Quinn felt optimistic about her future.

Although, she was a bit concerned about Rachel's behavior. Something about if just felt off, but Quinn couldn't place her finger on it. She made a mental note to keep tabs on her just to make sure everything was okay. Quinn didn't have a class with Rachel until third period so for the first couple hours of school she didn't see much of her except for in the hallways. Quinn had Rachel's schedule memorized, for reasons that no one would ever need to ask about, and so she had decided to take routes that would ensure she and Rachel would cross paths.

So when the bell rang to signal the end of first period, Quinn darted out the door in a flash. Rachel's class was on the other side of the building so she had quite the trip to make. And maybe she was overdoing things a bit, but no one ever got something (or someone, as the case was) with working for it (or her). Once she got with a good distance to Rachel's class, Quinn slowed down and took a second to adjust her hair. She braced herself and strode over to where Rachel would be coming from. She kept her face as stoic as possible while leisurely searching for the brunette. And, perhaps due to Rachel's height, it was actually proving to be quite difficult.

After a while she concluded that she must have missed her. She was disappointed of course, but she still had the rest of the day. After checking her phone for the time, she realized that had to get going if she didn't want to be late. She began to turn around, but as she did, she saw her. Quinn stopped mid-turned back to find Rachel looking right at her. Their eyes locked briefly and once more Rachel's cheeks appeared to redden. She dropped her head slightly and continued to walk, squeaking out a shy sounding, "Hi," as she passed Quinn by.

Quinn's brows knit together as she replied in turn with a, "Hey." She was confused. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. Or maybe it was her. Maybe the lack of sleep was actually getting to her. Yeah, that made sense. She was seeing things, hearing them too. The blush on Rachel's cheeks, the awestruck tone she used earlier, and the way she had just seemed to stumble on a signal word; that must have all just been in her head. Yeah, that was it. What other alternative was there? That her spell had actually worked and Rachel was in love her? Quinn could have laughed at the thought.

And as she went off to class she did let out a chuckle. It was preposterous. Magic. Quinn would have loved magic to be real, but magic was just about as real as Santa Claus. And everyone knew that Santa Claus wasn't real. Quinn knew that something like that couldn't have happened. But after getting a similar reaction from Rachel while passing by her after second period, Quinn couldn't help but wonder if something really was up.

Her being sleepy would have been the most logical explanation, and she wanted to believe it but she knew that wasn't the case. Sue's practices would occasionally, that is to say often, go up until the sun and then some. Being a Cheerio meant have limited sleeping hours, and even without that Quinn still had to spend hours studying and doing homework for her AP classes. And never before had she imagined seeing or hearing things. Sure, there was the whole seeing people as food thing but that was due to Sue's diet and after that experience Quinn made sure to take care of herself.

She was hallucinating now. At least she didn't think she was hallucinating. Was there even a surefire way to tell if one was hallucinating? If there was then it would have been nice to know what it was. It bothered Quinn. She grunted in frustration, and heard someone gasp beside her. She looked up to find Rachel standing in front of her. "Hi," she said, giving a small wave as she held her books across her chest. "I was wondering if maybe I could… sit down." Quinn eyes fell to the empty seat beside her. She had been so busy thinking that she hadn't even realized that had already made her way into her third period. "I mean, if it's okay with you. If you don't want me to sit here than I can-"

"No!" Quinn practically yelled out. She checked around to see if anyone was looking at her. They weren't. She breathed out a sigh of relief. "No," she repeated, in a softer tone. "It's okay. You can sit here." Rachel practically squealed as she hugged her books tighter to her chest. Quinn hadn't see her this excited about anything since… well, she had actually never seen Rachel this excited before and that included when they went to New York for Nationals. This time people did look in their direction. Quinn gave them all her signature glare. They backed off quickly and once she was certain that everyone was minding their own business, Quinn observed Rachel as she organized her side of the table. Everything had its place, from her books to her binder and everything else. It was cute.

Class started and the two of them began to take notes as teacher it out for them. Quinn wanted to talk, but she didn't know what to say. Small-talk was too simple and predictable, and it never gave off the impression that one actually cared. Quinn didn't want to resort to that. So she focused on her work. She looked up at the blackboard and memorized a portion of what was written. She looked down to copy it onto her paper, and out of the corner of her eye it almost looked like Rachel was staring at her. She looked over to her, but Rachel was focused on her paper.

She really must have been seeing things. Quinn glanced back up at the blackboard and as she brought her head back down she could have sworn that she saw Rachel staring at her again. And just as before, when turned to her Rachel was busily working. Maybe her eyesight was getting worse. Or maybe it was her contacts. Whatever it was, it was starting to give Quinn a headache. She just had to ask. "Are you staring at me?"

"What? No!" Rachel sounded like a kid who had just got catch with her hand in the vegan cookie jar, which meant that she was staring. Now Quinn did have a headache.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure I saw you staring." Quinn controlled her tone to not sound angry or upset. She just wanted to know. And by the way Rachel's panicked expression softened she knew that the brunette understood that she wasn't mad. She turned away before answering.

"I wasn't staring. I was… I was… admiring your hair. It looks really pretty. Of course it looks pretty all the time, but it looks especially pretty today."

"Oh… thanks."

"You're welcome."


	3. Chapter 3

As the day progressed Quinn made sure to subtlety observed Rachel. The brunette would consistently watch her whenever she had a clear line of sight, and every time she was caught looking, Rachel would quickly shift her gaze anywhere else. Her behavior bothered Quinn, mostly because she couldn't understand it. Surely one act of kindness shouldn't have earned the kind of gratitude that Rachel was showing her. It would make things easier in the long run though, so at least there was that.

And knowing that things were going well, Quinn spent her lunch in library after getting a little something to eat. Rachel's attention during the first half of the day had actually been pretty overwhelming and she wanted a little bit of quiet time. Also, it gave a chance to browse through her spell book. She hadn't really gotten much of a chance to look it over prior to performing her love spell and she was eager to see what else it held.

She pulled her book out of her bag and opened it up to read. There seemed to be chapters on everything. Some of the things that caught her eye included the Invisibility Spell, a potion that she could only describe as a truth serum, and most importantly a spell which would allow her to magically cast fireworks. She had no idea who would come up with a spell like that, but it would be something fun if she could use it. Rachel would probably appreciate it and it would be a nice thing to use when the two of them finally had their first kiss… if they ever had that kiss.

Apart from those, there were several other spells, potions and even hexes that held some of Quinn's interest. One in particular, known as the Obedience Hex, would allow her control someone's actions for a time being. According to its description, the hexed person would not even be aware that he or she was ever being controlled. It would have been fun to use, primarily on Finn, to ensure that Rachel saw him for the uncoordinated brute that he was. She never would have actually used that hex, but it would have been fun.

Quinn browsed further into the chapter entitled 'Healing' when she heard someone slide into the seat beside her. She shut her book in a flash. Sure, she was Head Bitch and no one would ever dare judge her but she didn't like the idea of other people taking a look inside her spell book. It was special to her. When she turned to see who had joined her, she found someone who was also special to her. "Rachel, hey."

"Hi Quinn." She still had that smile on her face. Quinn still couldn't understand how smiling like that for so long couldn't hurt. "I was looking for you, not 'looking for you' looking for you, but I noticed that you weren't in the cafeteria so I wondered where you were and well I started to… well, I found you." Her eyes fell onto the spell book with some curiosity. "What are you reading?"

"Nothing," Quinn quickly answered, shoving the tome into her bag. For some reason she felt that it was evidence of what she had done. Not that she had actually done anything wrong, nor should there have been a reason why Rachel could have found out but still. Maybe one day, if they ever got together, she'd tell Rachel about how she was playing around and cast a love spell on her but at the moment it would have been nothing but mortifying.

"Oh." The smile on Rachel's face fell slightly, forming a small pout, but she quickly cheered up and began to strike up conversation on a different topic. "Do you want to know want to know I'm planning to do for Glee Club later today?" she asked, a hopeful glint in her eye.

"Sure… what?"

Rachel's lips curved upward, her smile widening once more as showed off her pearly white teeth. "Well, as you know, I am currently single. And while I am enjoying the freedom that single status has provided me, there is a certain someone that holds a special place in my heart and I really want to be with that person." Rachel shifted in her seat, first move further and then closer to Quinn. She looked up at her coyly. "I don't know if this person feels the same way, but I'm hoping that a public display of my affection would show that my feelings are genuine and help convince them to at least go out on a date with me."

"Well that's nice." Quinn tried to sound genuinely happy for her, but the idea of Rachel serenading Finn once again left a sour taste in her mouth. There was always the chance that she would be singing for someone else, but Quinn found that possibility to be fairly unlikely. But the idea of singing out her feelings did make her think. She was nowhere near ready to openly sing about her love of Rachel, but perhaps if she found something subtle and stared longing into Rachel's eyes.

Something like that probably wouldn't have Rachel jumping into her arms, but she'd be smart enough to see that something was up and maybe that would be enough for a while. It wasn't the soundest plan, but it was something and it wouldn't embarrass her for life if it failed. And there was no doubt that Rachel would enjoy being sung to for once. "You think so?" she asked, completely oblivious to the thoughts running through Quinn's head. "You've always been honest with me." Those words were so far from the truth that Quinn could have laughed if it was so sad. "And I really want to know if you think it's a good idea. And I'm not singing to Finn, in case that's what you're worried about."

For a while Quinn said nothing. She tried to gauge the sincerity of Rachel's words and as far as she could tell they were completely genuine. And that caught her dumbfounded. Rachel wanted her opinion. She really wanted to know what she thought, and Quinn could tell that she was actually going to listen to her. "Um… yeah. Yeah, I think it's a good idea. I mean, I'd like it if you sang to me… hypothetically, of course. You know if you… and yeah." She was babbling like a moron, and not only that but she had also just advised Rachel to sing her heart out to someone in Glee Club.

But Quinn didn't get the chance to dwell on that because for the second time that day, Rachel pulled her in for a hug. Rachel squeezed her tightly, scooting her chair over so that their knees were touching. "Thanks Quinn." She held on for a bit longer than what was typically appropriate, but Quinn didn't mind. She was okay to let Rachel hold on until she was ready to let go. But after a few long seconds, Rachel was still hugging her. People probably would have been staring at them if not for the fact that the library was normally empty.

"Rachel?"

She abruptly pulled back, her cheeks pink and her eyes wide. "Quinn, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I just… Bye." In the blink of an eye, Rachel was on her feet darting towards the door as the librarian yelled at her for running. Quinn sighed and leaned back in her chair. That was just one more thing to add to the long list of Rachel's odd behavior for the day. If things kept going as they had then she'd probably need a journal by the end of the day. Quinn checked the time and found that lunch was almost over. She grabbed her things and headed off to class.

It was one of the classes that she shared with Rachel and the brunette was already inside by the time she got there. One look at her and Quinn could tell that Rachel was still blushing. She quickly pulled a textbook up to her nose to hide the redness of her cheeks. Quinn passed her by and tried not to giggle. Rachel set her book down once Quinn had made it to her assigned seat. A few seconds later Brittany entered and took the chair next to Quinn.

"Hey Q."

"Hey Britt."

"So," Brittany began, bumping shoulders with Quinn. "Have you asked 'you know who' out yet?"

"Britt, not now." The taller blonde took that as a no and frowned. "I'm working my way up to it. Okay, Britt? Just don't make me feel bad." Her eyes drifted to Rachel who was sitting a few tables ahead of them. It was the first throughout the entire day that she was able to watch Rachel without having brown eyes looking back at her. "Have you noticed Rachel acting weird today?"

"Weird?"

"Yeah, she's been… different."

Brittany shrugged. "I haven't noticed a thing." That bit of information was slightly disappointing for Quinn, but it wasn't as though she had really expected Brittany to pay as close attention to Rachel as she did. But it would have been nice if there was someone to help her confirm that there was something off with the petite brunette. Brittany could tell that she was upset. "How has she been different?"

"I don't know. She's just been different."

Brittany nodded like she understood. She didn't, but Quinn appreciated the gesture anyway. The bell rang and so their teacher gathered their attention to begin the day's lesson. They had a lot of work for the period and so Quinn had little opportunity to observe Rachel. Though she worked she couldn't help but feel eyes on her, but Quinn had gotten used it by that point in the day. She couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.

She was certain that she wasn't imagining things, but as the day progressed Quinn found that no one had seemed to notice the slightest change in Rachel's behavior. She had gone around, asking the rest of Glee Club in the most casual of ways. The only thing that any of them could tell her was something that she already knew; that Rachel was planning to sing to Finn later on. Or at least everyone had assumed that she was planning to sing to Finn. Finn, of course, knew nothing. Quinn didn't even know why she went through the trouble of asking him.

Despite everything though, Quinn held her head up high when Glee finally started. She arrived early, which was very unlike her, and found Rachel readying herself for her number. Quinn took the closest seat she could find, and after a beat Rachel got up from her chair and sat beside her. "Hi Quinn. I hope you've had a good day."

"It's been okay," Quinn replied glumly.

"Only okay?" Quinn simply shrugged, too mentally exhausted to do much else. "Oh, well I hope hearing me sing can help brighten your day." Quinn smiled at her and idly looked her over. Her eyes fell onto the sheet music she was holding, but before she could make out what it was for Rachel hugged it close to her chest. "No peeking. You'll just have to wait."

There was no point in arguing. She expected Rachel to go back to her previous seat, but she didn't. Slowly everyone else filtered in. One by one they came in, each of them giving Quinn and odd look. At first Quinn didn't know what was wrong until she realized that Rachel had been scooted her chair a little too close.

Mr. Schue was the last one in. He was about a minute or two late and normally Rachel would have complained, but instead she raised her hand politely. Everyone was surprised, especially Mr. Schue, so it took him a minute to address her. "Yes Rachel, is there something you wanted to say?"

"Indeed there is Mr. Schue," she answered as she got to feet. "I have a song that I'd like to preform if I may." The Gleeks, save for Brittany and Quinn, gave out a synchronized groan. Rachel was unfazed by their reaction. She didn't even seem to hear.

"Um… okay. Take the floor."

Rachel eagerly handed her sheet music to Brad and then took center stage. "Well, as most of you already know I'm singing this to a certain someone in this room. I hope that it'll be able to adequately express my feelings and well… I hope you enjoy." Her eyes flittered over in Quinn's direction and if it wasn't for the fact that Quinn knew that Finn was sitting behind her, she would have thought that she was actually looking at her. But she wasn't, was she?

She started to sing. Quinn knew the song. Avril Lavigne. And something about that stung. The only other time that Quinn had heard Rachel sing Avril was when she had been singing to her. Sure it was silly, but it was special. And now Rachel was singing Avril to someone else. She could just see Finn grinning his stupid lopsided grin. Oh how she wanted to just bring her fist up and smash it against his face.

It was only Rachel's voice that stopped Quinn from doing so. She listened and smiled softly and when the song was over she applauded like everyone else. And then Finn got up and headed towards Rachel. "That was great Rachel," he told her.

"Thanks Finn." He leaned in towards her, but she flinched and pushed him back. "What are you doing?" she shrieked. Finn pulled back, confused.

"I'm trying to kiss you."

"Why?!"

"Cause… I… wasn't that… don't you want to get back together?"

"What? No! Why would you think that?" Someone sputtered into laughter, probably Santana.

Finn got red-faced but he didn't look back. "Wasn't that for me?"

"No! Why would it be?" Rachel insisted and Santana laughed again. Apparently, she hadn't been lying after all. But if she hadn't been lying then…

"Who else would you be singing too?"


	4. Chapter 4

The tension was thick. It wasn't every day that Rachel turned down Finn. Technically, it was every other day but you know. This was different and unexpected. And for the first time, Finn hadn't done something incredibly stupid to provoke such rejection. Not that Quinn was complaining. She thought that it was about time that Rachel realized that she was better off without him. But there were so many questions that her actions had brought up. First and foremost was the one that everyone in the choir room was wondering.

Rachel still hadn't answered Finn's question, and by the look on her face it was clear that she didn't want to. She was fidgeting, eyes darting around as though someone was going to jump out to save her. She looked so vulnerable. Quinn couldn't take it. She got up and placed herself in between them and pushed Finn a few inches back. "Hey, why don't you just leave her alone Finn?"

"I'm just asking her a question!"

"One that Rachel obviously isn't comfortable answering," Quinn pointed out with a pointed glare. Finn backed up a bit but he didn't let up.

"I just want to know. What's the harm in that?"

"Finn-" Quinn's words were silenced when Rachel took a hold of her shoulder.

Quinn turned to her and found Rachel shaking her head. "No, it's okay." She walked past Quinn and looked Finn right in the eye. "The truth is," she began, her voice clear and calm with just the slightest hint of guilt. "Although I used to think that you were the one, the person I'm really in love with is…" For a moment her voice faltered as she squeaked out a name that no one could hear. She took a breath to steel herself and tried once more. "I'm in love with… Quinn."

"What?"

"Me?"

Quinn wasn't sure what to believe. Rachel couldn't have said her name and yet she was looking right at her with wide eyes. She was gauging her reaction, looking to see if her feelings were reciprocated. The shock on Quinn's face clearly didn't say that they were. Her gaze fell to the floor as she held back a sob. "I understand if you don't feel the same. If you'll excuse me." Before anyone could stop her, Rachel ran out the door.

Quinn hesitated for a moment, just a second, but that was all that Rachel needed. By the time Quinn regained her senses to chase after her, Rachel was already out of sight. The hallway was empty and there wasn't a single clue as to which direction she headed off to. Footsteps followed her. Santana had decided to follow her. "Well, that was interesting."

"Did you do this?"

"Excuse me?" Normally such accusations would agitate Santana, but instead she sounded more amused. That and the smirk upon her lips only made Quinn more certain that she had somehow been involved.

"Don't play dumb. This has you written all over it."

Santana was about to respond, but she stopped and mulled the thought over for a moment. "Actually it does," she agreed. "It really does. I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't think of it myself."

"So you're saying that you had nothing to do with any of this?"

"Sad to say, but no," Santana answered solemnly. She looked to be sincerely upset that she didn't have anything to do with the events that had just transpired. And if that were the case then… perhaps Quinn had just made the biggest mistake of her life. Without a second thought she darted away. There was no telling where Rachel had gone, no telling if she was still at school or if she had left. But at the end of the day there was only one logical place where she would end up.

Quinn ran for her car and raced to Rachel's house. Going down slightly unfamiliar streets, she drove there as fast as she could without breaking the law. Quinn had only been to Rachel's house a handful of times, but she already had the best route memorized. And so before she knew it she was there. As she parked outside, she wondered what she would say. For so long she had dreamt of this moment, but up until now it only just that; a dream. Perhaps it was still a dream. Maybe she was sleeping and this was all just going on in her head and she would soon wake up and find herself making out with her pillow.

That would be embarrassing. But if it were then there really wouldn't be anything to lose, except maybe a tiny bit of dignity. Quinn got out of her car and marched up to the front porch. She gave the door three firm knocks and waited for an answer. None came. She tried once more, this time calling, "Rachel? Rachel, are you here? It's Quinn." Still nothing. "Rachel, if you're in there please come out. I want to talk to you." While it would be easier to express her love without looking Rachel in the eye, that was something that Quinn wasn't about to do. She wanted to see those chocolate brown orbs light up, and for that megawatt smile to creep upon her face. She wanted Rachel to jump into her arms and kiss her silly. "Rachel, please."

"Quinn?" Finally she spoke, but not from inside the house but… Quinn did a quick turn and right behind her was Rachel. Apparently, she did head home but obviously she hadn't been going as fast as Quinn had. "Quinn, what are you doing here?" Her voice was timid and small, so unlike her. She looked as though she just wanted to disappear away into nothingness. Quinn knew the feeling. Instead of answering, Quinn did something bold.

Quinn grabbed Rachel by the face and smashed their lips together. At first Rachel gasped, so shocked that she almost pushed Quinn away. But then she realized what was happening and her gasp transformed into a moan. She brought a hand up to rid Quinn of her hair tie and began threading her fingers through short blonde locks. She pulled her in close, never wanted the kiss to end, but soon the need for air became too great. Rachel pulled back with a whimper. Quinn looked at her. Her eyes were wide with desire, her breathing uneven, and her lips were slightly swollen. She took a few moments to catch her breath and then leapt back in. Their second kiss was softer, a wordless statement of their feelings for each other. Their third kiss involved tongue and had Rachel pinned against the door with her legs wrapped firmly around Quinn's waist.

They decided to go inside before sharing their fourth kiss. They went upstairs into Rachel's room where they laid side by side in her room. They shared short tentative kisses, with their lips barely touching. "I love you."

"Say that again."

"I love you."

Hours passed by with them simply lying in bed together. More kisses and words of endearment were exchanged during that time. Quinn cherished every moment, still fearing that her eyes would open and she would find a pillow instead of Rachel. But that didn't happen, and the more time that passed by, the more Quinn began to believe that this was in fact reality. She went for the old test and pinched herself on the arm. "Ow." It hurt.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked worriedly, through a small laugh.

"Just wanted to make sure this is really happening," Quinn admitted embarrassedly.

"Well I can assure you that it is." Rachel sealed the words with a peck on the lips. She licked them as she pulled back, a shy little smile in place. "So does this mean that we're…" She let the question hang, but it was clear what she wanted to know. Quinn took her hands and gave them a firm squeeze.

"If that's what you want. I know it's what I want." Rachel's eyes shined as brightly as any star in the night sky. "But to make it official, I just want to ask. Rachel Berry, will you be my girlfriend?" Rachel squealed and answered with a kiss that knocked the two of them off the bed. They fell to the floor with a soft thud. "Ow."

"Sorry."

"It's okay." Her back hurt a bit, but Quinn didn't really care. "Maybe you can make it up to me," she suggested with a coy smile.

It would be a while before they got up from the floor. Quinn would end up staying over for the night. The Berry men were thrill to learn that their daughter was having a friend sleep over, but whether they would feel the same if they knew that Quinn was more than just a friend. Just to be careful they decided to leave them in the dark about that little detail, at least for the time being. That way they wouldn't have to endure an awkward interrogation over the dinner table.

They just had a nice simple meal with Quinn and Rachel playing footsies under the table while occasionally holding hands. When they finished, the two of them went back upstairs to cuddle while they watched a movie. It was late when the movie finished and so they decided to go to sleep together in Rachel's bed, which potentially was another perk of them not telling Rachel's dads about their newfound relationship. Obviously, Quinn didn't have any sleepwear with her and she knew that Sue would kill her if she any damage to her Cheerios uniform so sleeping in that was out of the question.

That left her with few other options. One would involve sleeping in her underwear which, truth be told, she wasn't completely comfortable with, and the other… "Rachel?" she called from inside her girlfriend's bathroom. Rachel popped her head in to find Quinn staring at herself in the mirror.

"Yes Quinn."

"Can I borrow something to sleep in?" she asked meekly. Her cheeks were red. Quinn normally wouldn't find anything wrong with such a question, but this was Rachel. She'd be wearing Rachel's clothes to sleep while being in bed with her, and that thought gave her some inappropriate ideas. The look on Rachel's eyes told her that she had similar ideas.

"Of course," she stuttered out her answer before disappearing and quickly reappearing with a nightgown and a pair of pajamas. "Which would you prefer?" she asked, displaying both of them out in front of her. They were both a bright pink with the pajamas having a teddy bear pattern on it. It was a hard choice, but Quinn went for the nightgown and suggested that Rachel use the pajamas. She did. She looked cute in them.

They got into bed with Rachel snuggling up in Quinn's arms. She fit perfectly. It was still hard to believe. Everything seemed perfect. Quinn buried her face in Rachel's hair, inhaling deeply to memorize her scent. Rachel fell asleep first and before long Quinn followed. That night her dreams were comprised of the events of the day. She relived every word, every touch, every kiss. She lived through the most perfect day all over again, and when she woke there Rachel was, still wrapped securely in her arms.

She kissed her tenderly, unintentionally rousing her from her sleep. Rachel kissed back. "Sorry baby, I didn't mean to wake you." The word of endearment slipped out without a thought. It felt so simple and natural, as though this was the way things were meant to be.

"It's okay." And for once, Quinn felt as though they were. Everything was okay, and as long as she and Rachel were together things would only get better. "Being kissed by you is a nice way to be woken up." And Rachel kissed Quinn back. Yeah, things were good. They were better than good. Quinn couldn't wait to see how everyone would react. One thing was for sure, she was in for one hell of a day.


	5. Chapter 5

After a few good morning kisses, Rachel went to the bathroom to freshen up for the day, leaving Quinn all alone in her bed. Her morning routine would take a while and in that time Quinn found herself humming a tune. She was happy, happier than she had been in, she couldn't even remember how long. But there was a lingering thought in the back of her mind that told her that something wasn't right. She tried not to think about it. She tried not to ruin everything, but as she glanced at her bag she couldn't help but think of her spell book and wonder, what if?

It was a silly thought, or at least that's what she told herself. It just seemed like an odd coincidence. Of course it could have been luck or maybe even fate. Quinn liked the idea of it being fate. She waited for Rachel to finish up in the bathroom and when she was done, Quinn borrowed a towel and took a shower. After, they had a nice big breakfast with the Berry men. They ended up taking separate cars to school, which saddened Quinn, but they agreed to enter the building together.

Through traffic they stayed close to one another and when they reached the school parking lot they exited their respective vehicles and met up at the main entrance. Rachel latched on Quinn almost immediately, wrapping her arm around Quinn's waist and nuzzling her face into her neck. Quinn's cheeks reddened and she wrapped her own arm around Rachel's shoulders. They walked in together with Quinn focusing on the hallway in front of them and Rachel focusing on Quinn.

The way Rachel was staring at her made Quinn a little nervous. Luckily no one in the halls paid them any mind. Quinn escorted Rachel to her locker and helped her carry her books to her first class. When they got there, Quinn gave Rachel a peck on the cheek to which Rachel responded by kissing her right on the lips. A random passerby happened to witness their interaction and promptly walked into an open locker, falling flat on his back. Quinn glared at the boy and he scrambled to his feet before cowering away in fear. Rachel giggled and pecked Quinn on the cheek. "Don't be mean."

Quinn had expected Rachel to be more upset with her behavior and the fact that she didn't seem to be made her feel so much more guilty. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I'll see you later."

They parted and Quinn headed off to class with a bit of a spring in her step. When she had first seen Rachel and first fallen in love, Quinn had felt the most amazing and terrifying feeling that she had ever experienced before. What she was feeling now was very similar to that but it wasn't scary. It was bright and warm and nothing, not even that lingering thought in the back of her mind, could ruin her mood. A moment later she was proven wrong when Santana bumped into her.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked with smirk that said that she already knew.

She knew that it would easier to just tell her; she would have ended up telling her eventually anyway. Quinn didn't really want to tell her though. She knew Santana and she knew that if Santana knew then she wouldn't have s single moment to enjoy what she now had. That irritated her. "Do you really have to ask?"

After a moment of though Santana answered, "Nope, but I'm asking anyway."

"You already know why," Quinn pointed out, striding past her best friend. Behind her Santana doubled her pace so she could get in front of Quinn and halt her movement. Quinn growled but Santana was unfazed.

"All I want is for you to say it."

Quinn didn't quite believe her, but there really was no avoiding it. She grit her teeth together. "Fine. Me and Rachel are together now. Happy?"

"Very." And then Santana did the unexpected and stepped out of the way without a word. Quinn rose an eyebrow at her, but wasn't about to question her behavior. She continued on towards her class and she went down the hall she heard Santana call out, "Britt is going to want that double date!" And that pretty much explained why she was being nice, and it also ensured that she'd have make that double date happen soon. But before that, Quinn wanted to make sure that she at least had a normal date with Rachel first.

She hadn't much time to think about that. Things had just happened so fast. One day she was picking on her and pulling her hair (for the spell of course, not because she just wanted her attention) and the next they were making out on top of Rachel's bed. It was the kind of thing you'd miss if you blinked. They were together now and they hadn't even gone out once. Quinn didn't like that and she set her mind to remedying the situation.

In between doing her work she tried to plan out the perfect date. She knew that the Lima Community Theatre was having an upcoming performance of Les Mis. It wasn't Broadway, but it was the closest thing that Lima had… that is if you didn't count Rachel Berry. Quinn had no doubts that Rachel could easily outperform anyone down at the theatre, but she'd still appreciate their shows. It was a safe bet to see a musical for their first date, but admittedly Quinn just wanted to do something nice for her girlfriend.

Her girlfriend. The words sounded so weird in her head, but in a good way.

It would be a while until she would next see Rachel, and in that time Quinn wanted to prepare for her date. There wasn't much she could do aside from plan, but there was one vital piece of information that she really needed. It was sad to admit but Quinn had no idea of when the show was supposed to be. Musical theatre wasn't exactly the most popular thing in Lima so show times were often far apart and fairly random. She could easily drop by later on and find out, but she was already planning to spend some time with Rachel. And she wanted to at least get things partially set up before asking her out. She didn't like having to do so, but she sent out a text.

Quinn: Hey, can you do me a favor?

Almost instantly her phone buzzed, indicating a response. Her face scrunched up in disgust as she read the single word. Of course he would end up answering like that.

Puck: Anytime ;)

She had expected something like that, and she almost began to regret trying to ask for his help. But as it was, Puck was the only person right now that might cut class to help her out. Santana was another option, but since she currently had a class with Brittany, the likeliness of her assistance was pretty low. Puck on the other hand would be easy to convince. All she had to do was give him a reason to leave school for a while.

Quinn: Not like that you pig!

Puck: Oh come on. You know you want it.

Quinn threw up a little in her mouth. This was so not worth it.

Quinn: Forget it, I'll do it myself.

She was about to stuff her phone back into her bag but then it buzzed in her hand. Quinn sighed. There was no telling what was next. There was a chance that he was apologizing, but there was also an equal chance that he was being his typical perverted self. Quinn decided to take the risk and read his text. If there was anything wrong with it she swore that she'd kill him.

Puck: Wait, I'm sorry.

Quinn waited a bit before responding.

Quinn: So you'll help?

Puck: Sure, I guess.

Quinn started typing down what she needed him to do, but mid text her phone buzzed again.

Puck: Does this have anything to do with Rachel?

Quinn swallowed thickly. It was the second time that someone had asked her about Rachel. She couldn't really blame them. After the scene Rachel had made the day before it was completely understandable if people were curious. And the fact that Quinn had chased after Rachel would only bring up more questions. Her thumbs were idly hovering over the keypad of her phone. A minute or so had probably passed since his text was sent. He, just like Santana, would easily guess that she was lying.

Quinn: Maybe.

Quinn: Yes. We're together now all right?

After some thought she realized that there was no point in lying. Puck wasn't the smartest guy around, but he would have been able to piece things together after hearing what she wanted him to do. She waited for him to get back to her. But then a minute passed by and then another and no text came. There were a multitude of reasons explaining why, but Quinn was feeling impatient.

Quinn: Puck?

Puck: Give me a sec. I'm picturing it.

Needless to say, Quinn didn't text him back for a while. Eventually though, she was able to able to get him to check when the next show would be. It took a while, but he was able to her the information that she wanted before the end of second period. It was great timing because it gave her the perfect opportunity to ask Rachel out. And even better, the next show would be later on in the week. When the bell rang she quickly made her way to her next class and eagerly awaited Rachel's arrival.

Quinn opened her mouth to ask her out, but before she could get a word out, Rachel's lips were on her own and Rachel's tongue was down her throat. She was shoved against a locker and she could feel a small, delicate hand inching its way up her cheerleading skirt. Quinn was about to get lost in the sensation of it all, but then she remembered that the two of them were in the middle of the hallway. With some difficulty, she pulled back.

She glanced around and just as she had guessed, there were quite a few eyes on them. She gave them a glare and then gently tugged Rachel into the class. She had a feeling that her glare was nowhere near as effective as it could have been as her cheeks were bright pink. Quinn had no idea where this side of Rachel came from, and while it made her kind of nervous it also excited her. Quinn already knew a lot about Rachel, but she knew that there were plenty of things that she didn't know about. And she couldn't wait to learn every little about her.

Apparently she was staring because after a while Rachel curiously turned to her and gave her a little look. "Is everything all right Quinn?"

"Yeah," she spoke out quickly. "I'm just… I can't believe that I'm lucky enough to have you."

"Aww, that's sweet Quinn but I'm the one that's lucky. I have Quinn Fabray as my girlfriend."

"But I have Rachel Berry as my girlfriend."

"That you do," Rachel replied with a giggle.

"Speaking of which, I realized that we kind of did things out of order." Rachel turned to her, raising a perplexed eyebrow. She looked confused, which in turn made her look cute, or cuter than usual. "The two of us just suddenly became a couple and we never got to go out. So I was wondering if you wanted to go the Lima Community Theatre with me later this week. They're performing Les Mis." Quinn expected Rachel to squeal out or for her eyes to light up or maybe even for her to tackle her to the ground and kiss her, but Rachel did none of these things. Instead, her smile fell slightly. The change was small. One could have easily missed it if they weren't paying close enough attention. But Quinn noticed.

"That's so sweet Quinn, but are you sure that you don't want to do something else instead?"

"Like what?" Quinn tried not to sound upset at Rachel's disappointed tone.

"I don't know," Rachel shrugged. "Something that you'll enjoy."

"No," Quinn assured. "I'll love it. I know I will." Those words seemed to be enough.

"Okay. This is going to be so much fun. I love you Quinn."

"I love you too Rachel."


	6. Chapter 6

After a day of being Rachel's girlfriend Quinn was exhausted. Well, mostly just her lips were exhausted. A lot of kissing had taken place during the day. It was their way to make up for lost time. But as much as Quinn loved kissing Rachel, and Quinn really did love kissing Rachel, there was only so much that she could take. Her lips were all swollen and dried out. She would have used some chap stick, but she had run out shortly before Glee had started.

It had been difficult to tell Rachel that they had to stop, but when Quinn finally managed to do so, Rachel agreed without a second thought. Clearly the day had worn her out just as much as it had worn out Quinn. They sat together at the seats closest to the front and watched as their friends filed in. Due to their behavior throughout the day everyone knew about them being together. Some of them still shot them odd looks, as though they couldn't quite believe it.

No one said anything though. Finn grumbled something as he stalked by and Puck looked like he wanted to say something, but no one said anything. The hour that they ended up spending together went by like any other. The main difference of Rachel and Quinn's newfound relationship had little to no effect on anything. When Glee was over one thing led to another and before long Rachel and Quinn were kissing again.

And now, hours later, Quinn was lying in bed. She was tired. Her phone began to ring and she lazily rolled over to check who it was and upon seeing that it was Rachel, Quinn found some energy come back to her. "Hey," she answered dreamily. It hadn't been long since they had left school. And based on the time, Quinn could guess that Rachel had just gotten home. She thought the idea of Rachel pulling out her phone the moment she entered her house to be really cute.

"Hi Quinn. What are you up to right now?"

"Nothing. Just lying in bed, resting."

"Oh, are you okay?"

Quinn giggled at Rachel's worried tone. "It's nothing like that. I'm fine, just a little tired." For a moment Rachel was quiet, slightly shy about her part in wearing Quinn out. Quinn giggled again. "You know, maybe I can just kiss you all day instead of going to Cheerios practices," she suggested coyly. "Sue might not believe me, but making out with you can be a bit of a workout." Quinn heard a sharp intake of air. She smirked. "Is everything okay baby?"

"Uh huh, just thinking about you."

"Yeah? Thinking about anything special?"

"You in your uniform," Rachel whimpered. "I love you in your uniform. You look so hot."

"You think so?" Quinn mused aloud. She heard Rachel make an affirmative sound. "You want to know what I like you in?" Rachel replied in a breathy whisper that had Quinn licking her lips. "I miss your sweaters," she admitted. "Your sweaters and your knee socks. I love how you dress now, but I miss how you used to dress. I always used to think that you looked really cute."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"Okay… well, maybe tomorrow I can… Bye."

"Wait, what?" Quinn wondered what Rachel was talking about, but she wouldn't be getting an answer because Rachel had already hung up. She considered calling her back, but she knew how stubborn Rachel could some times. Besides, Quinn liked the idea of Rachel surprising her. She got up and started doing the homework that she needed to get done.

Beside her, she had her spell book. It was fairly counterproductive to be studying it when she school work to get done, but she couldn't help herself. She still didn't believe, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to believe, that the spell had actually worked but the more she read the tome the more it seemed as though that were the most likely possibility. Since she had gotten it Quinn had been amazed by how genuine her spell book appeared and the further she got into it the more she wondered if it was.

One of the things that she had noticed about it early on was that everything appeared to be hand written, but something she noticed later on was that not every spell or potion was written by the same person. The writing style, the vocabulary, even things such as punctuation, could change from page to page. There were also faded notes on several pages, some of which seemed to be dated several hundred years ago. But that was all circumstantial evidence and it didn't prove anything. But there was something that could.

The following morning Quinn woke up fully rested. She had managed to finish up her homework and had even been able to browse her spell book a bit to find something that she could use as an adequate test to determine the authenticity of her spell book. It would surely prove to her that magic wasn't real, and yet she wanted to wait until after school to try it out. She wanted to see Rachel first. She wanted to be with her.

After a hearty breakfast she left for school and was pleasantly surprised to find Rachel waiting for her. She dressed in an animal sweater and a mini skirt. She had on a pair of flats and some knee socks with an argyle pattern. On the front of her sweater was a cute bear. She excitedly waved at Quinn before running up to her and leaping into her arms. She kissed a flustered cheek and pulled back so that Quinn could admire her fully.

"Like what you see?" Quinn sure did. She took her lower lip between her teeth to stop herself from saying something inappropriate. "I'll take your silence as a yes." Rachel strode past Quinn, giving her hips some extra sway. Quinn's eyes couldn't look away as Rachel's skirt flirted about. She watched her for a while longer and her eyes were still focused on Rachel's lower half when she abruptly spun around. Quinn's eyes shot up. Rachel was coyly smiling at her. "Is something wrong Quinn?" she asked innocently as batted her eyelashes. It was impressive how quickly Rachel could go from sexy to cute.

"No, everything's fine."

Everything was not fine of course, but at least Rachel didn't tease Quinn any further for the rest of the day. At least she didn't intentionally tease her. Having Rachel dress as she used to reminded Quinn of why she both loved and hated her stupid little mini skirts. They were always so distracting and on more than one occasion Quinn found herself staring. She used to have so much more self-control, but in retrospect that may have only been because she was still hiding her feelings for Rachel.

Now, she had little reason to not ogle her girlfriend. But she wouldn't be able to get any work done at all. Needless to say, that would be any good. A year ago Quinn had more or less resigned herself to being stuck in Lima for the rest of her life. Sure, she had dreams. She had lots of dreams, some of them being in the realm of fantasy. One of her top dreams was actually to be an amazing witch like Hermione Granger. And she had kind of made that one come true already. Kind of.

The thing was that a year ago, she didn't care much for her dreams. All that matter was Rachel and that she achieved her dreams. But now things were different. Now she had Rachel and they had a future together; a future in New York no less. She wouldn't let herself be left behind, not when finally had something worth fighting for. For the time being Quinn needed to focus on school and so with all the willpower that she could manage she asked Rachel, "Can you put on a skirt that's a little longer? I'm not trying to be controlling or anything, and I'm not trying to cover you up but I just can't keep my eyes off you."

Rachel giggled but quickly complied to her request after class was over. The moment the bell rung she went to her locker and grabbed a spare skirt and then went to change in the nearest available restroom. The skirt she ended up putting on was still short, but it wasn't as short. It went down to just above her knees and didn't entice Quinn's imagination as much. She'd just have to wait until later, but in the meantime she'd at least have some time to think about what she wanted to do to her girlfriend.

The second school was over Quinn had Rachel by the hand and took her to her car. She drove them to her house, knowing that her mother would be away for the night. Rachel had changed back into her mini skirt and Quinn couldn't take it anymore. She brought Rachel and tossed her onto the couch. She pecked Rachel on the base of her neck and started trailing kisses up to her to her face. Rachel threaded her fingers through her hair and pulled her down for a hungry kiss. Her tongue slipped in between Quinn's lips as she whimpered in response to forcefulness.

Quinn placed a hand on Rachel's exposed thigh and wrapped the singer's leg around her waist. She rolled her hips, eliciting a moan from the girl below her. It was hard to contain herself. There were so many things that Quinn wanted to do to Rachel, but they had only been together for a couple of days and they hadn't even gone out on their first date yet. And there was also the possibility of Rachel being under the influence of a spell. She shook that thought away and went back to kissing Rachel.

She sucked on Rachel's tongue as her hand slowly made its way up Rachel's skirt, but she stopped the instant her fingertips came in contact with Rachel's panties. Quinn pulled back, gasping for air. Below her, Rachel was panting, her lips swollen and desire in her eyes. Countless times Quinn had dreamt of this moment, and everything about it was perfect even down to Rachel's incredibly short skirt and her animal sweater. "God you look gorgeous," she breathed out, sounding awestruck. "You have no idea how much I want to rip that sweater off you."

"Yeah?" Rachel husked out, her sultry tone enough to make Quinn's knees go weak. "Is that what you want?" She reached for the hem of her sweater and began pulling it off her body. Rachel got as far as revealing her tone stomach before Quinn grabbed her by the wrists.

"What are you doing?" she asked, slightly panicked.

"Taking off my sweater," Rachel answered, her brows furrowed in confusion. "That's what you want isn't it? Or did you actually want to rip it off me? I suppose you could try that, but it is kind of thick so I'm not sure if you'd be able to."

"What? No!" Quinn tugged to Rachel's sweater and pulled it back down to protect Rachel's decency. "I didn't really mean that. I mean, I do want to rip your clothes off sometimes but I want us to go slow, at least for now."

"Oh… okay." She sounded kind of sad. It was almost as though she was disappointed, but that wasn't it. Quinn studied her face carefully. The look she had on is was familiar, very familiar. Her brown eyes were bigger than usual, and she was looking up at Quinn like a lost little puppy. "I'm sorry. I thought that's what you wanted." She was so upset that she had let Quinn down. Quinn shook her head and cupped Rachel's cheek. She lifted her head up and kissed her softly.

"It's okay." But Quinn knew that it wasn't. "Don't be sad, okay?"

"All right." She was smiling again. It was a small, but genuine smile.

"Hey, I'm going to go upstairs for a little bit. I'll be right down, okay?"

"Okay."

Quinn kissed Rachel one last time and then went up to her room. She pulled out her spell book and flipped to the page that she needed. On it was a spell that would, theoretically, allow her to freeze things in an instant. There was a simple incantation and apart from that all that was needed was concentration and hand gesture similar to a flick of the wrist. She was nervous. There was no reason for it to work but just to be safe she set her target, a bottle of water, as far away from all of her possessions as she possibly could. And on top of that, she carefully tucked Lampchop into her bed.

Once everything was set she closed her eyes and emptied her mind as she envisioned the bottle being frozen solid. She followed the instructions in her spell book, opened her eyes and said, "Glaciem." In the blink of an eye the bottle froze over. The ice expanded causing the bottom to curve outward. Quinn screamed as it fell to the floor. It worked. It actually worked. Soon she heard footsteps approaching from downstairs. She ran for the door and got to it just as Rachel poked her head in.

"Quinn, is everything okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah… yeah," Quinn panted out. "I just um… I just um… saw a spider. It scared me and I killed it. I'm fine." Rachel still looked worried and the love that Quinn saw in her eyes made her heart sink. She felt like crying. "I'm okay Rachel, really. Go back downstairs. I'll get back down soon." Rachel reluctantly did as she was asked and went back to the living room, but not before pecking Quinn on the lips. Quinn closed the door and then leaned back against it. She slumped down to the floor with a sob. The love spell had worked. It had to. It had worked just like she wanted it to.

Rachel loved her. She did, right?


	7. Chapter 7

Quinn was lying in her bed, her hands covering her face as she held back sobs. She couldn't believe it. Everything had seemed so perfect, she was certain that it was all a dream. The reality though was far worse. Magic was real and Rachel, poor sweet Rachel, was under a love spell. A powerful one that was apparently irreversible. At least that's what Quinn's spell book told her. She didn't know if that was true, but she had a feeling that it was.

She wanted to fix or at least try to, but there was also another part of her that didn't. The moment that Rachel had left, Quinn had reread the pages for the spell that she had cast. Towards the bottom there was a warning of sorts. It was hand written, much like everything else but it was faded which gave Quinn the impression that the words were inscribed by someone other than the person who had originally made the spell book.

According to what was written, the effects of the spell would differentiate depending on certain circumstances. It was very clear but as Quinn understood it the effects of the spell were dependent on Rachel's original feelings for her. There was no telling what that meant… unless. A thought came to her and leapt out of bed for spell book. She didn't want to risk toying with magic again; it had already done enough harm, but she was confident that a truth serum was nothing to be afraid of. The worst case scenario would be finding out that Rachel really hated her after all, and if that were the case then it was nothing less than what Quinn thought she deserved after what she had done.

As she read the potion over, Quinn found that it was simple enough to produce. She had actually been expecting odd ingredients like eye of newt or frog legs, but she was glad to know that she wouldn't have to trick Rachel into consuming something like that. All she would need to do was gather a few simple herbs, which she should easily be able to get at a local grocery store, and mix them in a particular fashion.

The sun was already setting, but still she set out and started getting to work. The trip to the store took no more than a half hour and after that she was immediately back in her room. The instructions she had were very precise. She would have to mix things in precise amounts, stir them a specific amount of times and in a certain direction. Quinn didn't know what would happen if the potion wasn't prepared properly and she was afraid to find out. An honest mistake could have catastrophic repercussions.

Just thinking about it, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she had made a mistake in casting her love spell in the first place. Granted, casting the spell had been a mistake in itself but maybe she had done something wrong while casting it. There were so many unknown variables. That didn't sit well with Quinn. Things for her were always so planned and calculated. In her younger years her life had been all but set out for her, and in her high school years she liked to take all the facts into consideration before choosing the correct course of action.

In retrospect, that may have been one of the main reasons that she had never tried going after Rachel before. And while Quinn still didn't know whether or not doing so would have ended up well or not, she did know that she had never been happier than when she thought that their love for each other had been genuine. As things were, Quinn had little to no chance at finding Rachel a cure. But she at least wanted to know if somehow the girl she loved really did love her back. With a heavy sigh, she continued on with her work until her concoction turned deep blue. So far so good. Quinn reread the instructions and let the mixture sit, as was written, until the color faded and the potion became clear. It looked much like water without a single trace of the ingredients that she had put it.

Quinn was quite intrigued by how that could have happened. Out of curiosity, she took a sniff and found no recognizable scent. She had to wonder if this potion was designed to be undetectable. It would have made sense if it was. Quinn could just image the way people had used this potion in the past. It would prove to be very easy to slip into someone's drink. With that in mind Quinn brought the potion into the kitchen to find an appropriate contain to store in it until she needed it. She then did her homework and went to sleep.

The following day she got up early to make Rachel and herself some lunch complete. Each of their lunches had bottle of freshly squeezed orange juice in it. Rachel's was laced with the truth serum. It was most likely guilt that drove her actions, but Quinn reminded herself that she had practicing how to make vegan friendly meals for a while now. Quinn was pretty good in the kitchen and so she liked the idea of making Rachel something to eat, especially since she knew that Rachel wasn't much of a cook. This though was not the ideal situation.

She drove off for school and like the day before she met Rachel right outside the building. Rachel leapt up into her arms and kissed her softly. When she pulled back there was a small pout on her face. "Is there something wrong?" she asked, her brows furrowed. Quinn quickly shook her head but she could see that Rachel wasn't convinced. She pulled out the lunch that she had made and presented it to her girlfriend.

"Here, I made this for you."

The show of affection was enough to get Rachel's attention. She grabbed the bagged lunch and peered inside. Rachel let out an, "Aww," and hugged Quinn once more. "That's so sweet of you." She pecked Quinn on the cheek and took her by the hand. "I have the best girlfriend ever." Guilt filled Quinn up and she instinctively squeezed Rachel's hand tighter as she sought out some comfort. But then Rachel's eyes shot over to her and she was forced to pretend like she was okay.

"I made the orange juice myself. It's nice and fresh."

Rachel beamed and let out a tiny squeal. For the third time in just a few minutes, Quinn found herself to be once more wrapped in Rachel's arms. It felt so good to be in her embrace. Quinn could have been content to stay like that forever, and she would have said so if did have the feeling that Rachel would suggest to do just that. She held on for a while and gently brushed Rachel's hair.

The first few hours of school were the worst that Quinn had ever experienced and that included the time that she had been pregnant. Every second that passed by was second closer to the moment of truth, literally. She felt ill and wanted so much to call her mom and her excuse her from the rest of her classes. She couldn't face Rachel's rejection after finally getting a glimpse of what it would be like to be with her, but it was something that she knew she had to do. Her behavior didn't go unnoticed. Brittany and Santana could tell that something was up, but neither of them knew exactly what. Brittany was under the impression that Quinn was nervous about finally having a girlfriend and Santana just wanted to get their double date over with. Apparently that's all that Brittany had been able to talk about since Quinn and Rachel had gotten together.

Quinn didn't know how she was supposed to tell Brittany that their double date probably wouldn't happen. She knew that she couldn't tell them about the spell. They wouldn't believe her. Well, at least Santana wouldn't believe her. She'd probably laugh at her. Brittany on the other hand would chastise her and tell her that it was wrong to cast a love spell on Rachel in the first place. And that would just make Quinn feel worse.

Time seemed to go slowly but after a while the bell rang to signal the beginning of lunch. Quinn swallowed thickly and marched out of class. For a number of reasons she wanted for her and Rachel to eat alone. Rachel thought the idea was romantic and eagerly agreed. They had settled on the choir room. Quinn found Rachel anxiously waiting outside. She cheerfully greeted Quinn with an energetic wave and then kissed her before they went inside.

They sat on the piano bench. Almost instantly, Rachel went for the orange juice and took a quick sip. "It's delicious." Quinn chuckled nervously. There was no description of what the potion would taste like, but she was glad to know that it didn't ruin the taste of the orange juice. It probably had no taste which further confirmed Quinn's impression that it designed to administered in secret.

"Yeah, do you want some?" Rachel asked, offering Quinn a sip.

"No thanks," Quinn shook her head. "I have my own." She pulled out an identical bottle of juice. She took a sip and started to eat just Rachel did the same. Her fears were getting to her. She nibbled on her food, periodically glancing in Rachel's direction. Slowly, she drank more and more of the truth serum. It wouldn't need much for it to take effect, but Quinn simply ate. She would ask the question that she needed to. Sooner or later she would, but most likely it would be later.

She took pleasure in Rachel's company and observed her as she ate her lunch. She seemed to like it. She seemed to really like it. Her reaction was true. That much was apparent. This was it. Quinn leaned in and grabbed Rachel by the face. She pulled her in for a kiss that seemed to last forever and yet ended too soon. "Wow. What was that for?"

"Do you love me?"

"What?" Rachel's face scrunched up in confusion. Quinn would have thought that she looked cute if she wasn't so worried about what she might soon hear.

"Do you love me?" she repeated, fighting back tears.

"Yes Quinn, of course I do."

She wanted to take that answer as is, but if she did then she'd consistently question what if. Quinn knew she had to push things further. "Do you really love me? Do you truly and honestly love me? Can promise me that you love me and that it's not because of anything else?"

"Anything else?" Rachel was still confused. "Like what?"

"Like… like a spell."

"A spell? Quinn don't be silly," Rachel chuckled.

"Rachel please," Quinn pleaded. She watched as Rachel studied her features. Rachel cupped her cheek, gently stroking it with her thumb. Quinn's eyes fluttered closed for a second. Then she felt lips upon her own and then they were gone. Her eyes opened and Rachel was still looking at her with her big brown eyes. She rubbed circles upon her cheek with her thumb as she smiled softly.

"Yes Quinn. I don't know what this is about, but I do love you. I truly, honestly love you with all my heart. And I love you for no other reason other than the fact that I love you. I feel butterflies in my stomach when I'm around you, my heart races, it's like I'm walking on air. You make me happy. You make me feel complete. I don't know how else I can say it." Tears fell from her eyes and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. "I love you Quinn. I just love you." Quinn pulled Rachel into her arms. Rachel cried into Quinn's shoulder as Quinn cried into Rachel's.

"I love you too Rachel. I love you so much."


	8. Chapter 8

Quinn should have been happy and she was, in a way. The split second after Rachel had told her that she was really in love with her, relief had washed over Quinn. But her guilt quickly resurfaced after her mind registered the fact that she had wasted so much time. And she still had to take into consideration that Rachel's actions were still being influenced by her love spell. Unfortunately, her spell book did little to offer any explanation on how certain circumstances would affect the effects of the spell.

But Quinn took comfort in knowing that if she had continued on with her original plan of being nice to Rachel then their current relationship status would have been inevitable. If anything, her spell had only sped up the process which was a nice way to make up for lost time. She dried off Rachel's face while Rachel did the same for her. She kissed her softly once more before getting up and helping Rachel to her feet. They walked off to class together with their fingers interlaced.

When they got there Quinn escorted Rachel to her seat and then took her own beside Brittany. The moment she sat down Brittany's arms were around her. The taller blonde squealed as she squeezed her. "Oh, the two of you are so cute together!" Quinn looked ahead of her, and based off the way Rachel shrank in her seat, she could tell that she had heard. Quinn couldn't help but smile even though she was a bit embarrassed herself.

Later on in the afternoon they found themselves spending more time together. Quinn liked it better that way. Contrary to popular belief, she never really liked being the spotlight; too much pressure. Everyone's eyes were always on you and there was always someone waiting for you to mess up. Rachel was more suited for things like that, being as melodramatic as she was. Quinn preferred her peace and quiet and had only put up with rigors of being popular so she could get Rachel's attention, if only in negative way.

She hated knowing that things could have been so much better if she had just had the guts back then to admit her feelings for Rachel, but there was no point in worrying about that. Things weren't great, but they were getting there and Quinn was determined to do everything in her power to assure that everything went perfectly. As they walked hand in hand through the park she paid special attention to her girlfriend.

Quinn watched carefully to determine what ill effects the love spell may have caused. There was already one thing about Rachel's behavior that had been worrying Quinn, but she had seen her act in a similar fashion when she had been with Finn. She'd just have to keep an eye out. Quinn kept up conversation as they walked together. They talked about a lot, from the past to the present and even the future. And Quinn learned some things about Rachel that she hadn't known before.

Like the fact that she had a collection of Care Bears or how she was curious about what it would be like to have a tattoo. Rachel even admitted to being the one who had picked out Quinn's corsage from Junior Prom. That was something that Quinn had already known about of course, but she hadn't comprehended what it had meant until Rachel explained it to her. Quinn found herself falling more in love with Rachel. She would have kissed her right there if not for all the people around them.

Instead she had to settle for squeezing her hand and a whispered, "I love you." Rachel whispered the words back and they left the park to find somewhere a little more private. The sun was beginning to set and Quinn had an idea. She tugged Rachel off in a seemingly random direction and received little protest. Rachel struggled to catch up as Quinn excitedly sped up ahead of her.

"Where are we going Quinn?" she asked.

Quinn stopped which allowed Rachel to get up beside her. She turned around and considered answering. She chewed on her bottom lip as she considered her options. It was hard for her to concentrate because the confused look on Rachel's face was so cute. Eventually she decided what she wanted to say. "It's a secret." Rachel didn't look too pleased and she pouted, but nonetheless she allowed Quinn to continue to lead the way.

She didn't complain or pester Quinn any further, but it was obvious that she was curious. Quinn had the urge to tell her but she didn't want to ruin things. She continued to escort Rachel along the way, walking down familiar streets that she hadn't been down in so long. It was dark now. The timing was practically perfect. Quinn could only that she proved to be lucky enough to get a clear sky. The pair ventured off towards the outskirts of town where they found a grassy hill that had a nice big tree on top.

Rachel's brows furrowed together but she was slowly piecing things together. Quinn brought her up to the peak of the hill. Above them were hundreds of thousands of stars, shimmering in the night sky. Rachel gasped as she looked up. "I used to come up here all the time," Quinn told her.

"It's beautiful."

"Yeah," Quinn agreed, her eyes never leaving Rachel's form. They sat down at the base of the tree and cuddled up close so they could keep warm. Quinn hadn't really put any thought about the cold, but she with Rachel snuggled up beside her she didn't mind. She absentmindedly combed her fingers through silky brown locks. "You're going to be a star just like that someday."

"I don't need to."

Quinn's hand froze. Her heart stopped. She looked down at the girl in her arms and did her best to not lose her calm. "What?" she asked, just the slightest bit of panic in her voice. Rachel didn't seem to notice, but that fact didn't help Quinn very much.

"I said that I don't need to be a star," Rachel repeated as she rested her head on Quinn's shoulder. She took hold of Quinn's free hand and interlaced their fingers. "As long as I have you I don't need anything else."

"But- but, what about Broadway?" Quinn began to panic. Rachel noticed.

She got up and looked down at herself disappointedly. "I'm sorry," she apologized meekly. "I just want to make you happy." Her words sounded so honest that Quinn could have believed that she was still under the effects of the truth serum. And for all Quinn knew Rachel just might have been; she never did get a chance to test out how long it would work. She placed a hand under Rachel's chin and lifted her head up so that their eyes would meet. The concern she felt was evident in her hazel eyes and Rachel was able to give a small smile.

"Well, I'd be happy to see you on Broadway."

"Okay." Rachel closed in once more, this time positioning herself so that she was settled in Quinn's lap. She laid her head back, her ear pressed up against Quinn's chest. Rachel could hear the beating of her girlfriend's heart. Quinn engulfed the smaller girl in her arms. She held her close as she breathed deeply through her nose. She knew that the girl that she was holding was still the girl that she had fallen in love with, but she also knew that she was different and it was her own fault. Quinn had been able to avert a crisis, but the question was for how long.

That night she read through her spell book once more. There had to be something that could help her. First she had gone through the chapter regarding counterspells. She had read through it before and had found nothing of any relevance but there was no harm in checking once more. Quinn carefully went through every page, but just as before there was nothing. Everything in the chapter revolved around things to be used to counter spells and jinxes while in battle or to cure the adverse effects of 'harmful' magic.

Quinn let out a bitter laugh. It was funny, in a sad way, that whoever had created her spell book didn't have the foresight to see how a love spell could be 'harmful' in some way. She was about to continued searching through her spell book when she realized that the solution to her problem was possibly within reach. It was a bit of a longshot, but the best option she had available to her. Quinn's mind was set. She would try to find out about the origins of her spell book.

The following afternoon she excused herself from Rachel's company in favor of visiting the bookstore which she had purchased her spell book from. Rachel had been disappointed but she didn't complain. Quinn was both relieved and worried about that. But she knew that if she succeeded in her mission then everything would be okay. She stroked over the cashier. "Hi," she said, offering him a wave.

"Hey," he greeted in turn. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Actually there is." Quinn pulled her spell book out from her bag and presented it to him. "I bought this here the other day and I've just been really fascinated by it, and I would really like to know more about it." He nodded in understanding.

"May I?" he asked, extending his hand out for the book. Carefully Quinn passed it along. He flipped it open and instantly his lips curved into a smile. "Oh yeah, I remember this," he exclaimed as she flipped through the pages. "I bunch of us read through this all the time," he told her. "Some of us even tried casting some spells."

"Really?"

"Why not? I mean, haven't you? Too bad magic isn't real," he sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. Too bad." Quinn let out a weak chuckle.

"So, what was it that you wanted to know?" the cashier asked while handing her back the book.

"Well, I was curious as to where this book came from. It looks so real."

"It does, doesn't it?" he agreed. "But there's not much to say about where it came from. All I know is that it was donated here a while back."

"Donated? By who?"

The cashier laughed good-heartedly at her curiosity. "Can't say off the top of my head," he explained. "We do keep records about these kinds of things, but it's exactly policy to be giving away personal information," he told her with a shrug.

"Oh, of course." Quinn's shoulders fell in defeat. "Thank you anyway."

She turned to leave but stopped once she heard the cashier sigh and call out, "Wait." Quinn spun back around. "I suppose that giving you a name won't do any harm. Just give a sec to check our records."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he said as he began making his way towards the back. "Really though, don't mention it. I could get in trouble." Quinn laughed and made a gesture of sealing her lips closed. The cashier disappeared into the back of the store and was gone for a few moments. Quinn waited patiently, and after a few minutes the door opened and the he was back. He took his place back behind the counter. "So, I looked up and it appears that the book you have was donated by a Shelby Corcoran."

"Thank you so much. That is so…" Words were lost on Quinn as she fully processed what had just been told to her. Shelby. Shelby Corcoran was the previous owner of her spell book. But if she used to own the spell book did that mean… and if she was then how would she react after finding out that Quinn had…

Quinn suddenly felt sick. "Are you okay? Is everything all right?"

"Um, yes," her answer came out in a squeak. "Everything is fine. Thank you for your help."

Quinn promptly left the store and headed for her car. She took a moment to calm herself before admitting that her only course of action was to find Shelby and ask for her help. But she also knew that doing so would likely result in… bad things, very bad things. Quinn really hoped that Rachel's mom wasn't actually a witch.


	9. Chapter 9

As day broke, Quinn jumped out of bed. She quickly checked herself to see if she was on fire. Thankfully, she wasn't. Quinn breathed out a sigh of relief laid back down. The previous night she had a nightmare. She had visited Shelby with the intention of finding some way to cure Rachel, but the moment that Shelby had learnt what Quinn had done, she tried to incinerate her. Well actually, she did incinerate her.

Understandably, she was pretty freaked out. Quinn was afraid; about dying, and about seeing Beth. She hadn't seen her daughter since she had given her away and although she did want to see her; Quinn was quite overwhelmed by everything. Her phone began to ring and she reached over to her nightstand to grab it. Quinn answered without checking who had called. "Hello?"

"Good morning Quinn!" Rachel happy tone rang in her ear. "How are you today?"

"Hey Rachel." Quinn had to smile. "I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm wonderful," she replied cheerfully. "But anyway, I just wanted to check up on you. I could tell that yesterday you were upset about something, but I didn't know if wanted to talk about it or not." She waited a beat for Quinn to respond but quickly spoke up once more before she had a chance. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I completely understand if you don't. I just want to be supportive." Quinn nodded despite the fact that Rachel couldn't see her.

She couldn't tell her of course, but there was something she could talk about. "I was just thinking about Beth," she lied. It wasn't a complete lie though as Beth was always a constant thought in her mind. The two of them had briefly spoken about her soon after Quinn had given her away for adoption. She had been a tad hostile back then, for various reasons, but they had bonded. In retrospect, Quinn realized that that could have been her perfect opportunity. She sighed. "I'm just wondering how she is."

"I'm sure she's great, Quinn."

"I'm sure she is too," Quinn agreed. "I just wish that I could see her." For a moment, Quinn wondered what her baby girl looked like. She'd be adorable, that much was for sure. She smiled at the thought. "Have you… Have you kept in touch with Shelby at all?" Quinn felt guilty as she said the words. Even if what she was doing was to make things right, it didn't change the fact that she was using Rachel.

"We exchange e-mails every now and again," Rachel replied, showing not the slightest sign of noticing Quinn's discomfort. There was a longing in her tone, one that Quinn made a note of. Quinn had never heard Rachel talk about Shelby since she left but it was obvious that Rachel missed her. "It feels kind of strange sometimes, but it's nice."

"Well that's good. I'm glad to hear that." Even though Quinn had grown up with her mother she knew what it felt like to be abandoned. And even before she had been kicked out of the house, Judy wasn't always the most supportive mother. Things had gotten better of course, and Quinn was happy to learn that things were also good between Rachel and Shelby.

"Thanks. She's actually back in town, but I haven't gone by."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm just kind of nervous." She paused a beat. "Do you want to visit her? Go see Beth?"

That was it. It was the perfect opportunity. "Um… sure. I'd like that." Rachel ended the call, but not before telling Quinn that she loved her. She then checked for the address and sent Quinn a text, telling her where Shelby lived. After getting Rachel's text, Quinn searched up the address. It wasn't too far, a reasonable distance from her house. If she wanted, she could stop by after school. She didn't really want to; she was still pretty afraid of what Shelby was capable of, but she knew what she had to do.

Quinn went downstairs to have breakfast with her mom and then headed off to school. Like the previous days she met up with Rachel right before heading inside. But when she got up to her, Quinn was surprised to find that Rachel had a brown paper bag in her hand. She lit up as she saw Quinn approach and she ran for her. Rachel handed Quinn the paper bag with giddy smile on her face. "Morning Quinn, I made this for you!" Quinn opened the bag to find a sandwich and bottle of juice. "Since you made me lunch yesterday, I thought I'd make you lunch to today."

"Oh, Rachel's that so sweet." Quinn thanked Rachel with a kiss on the cheek. She looked back down at her lunch. "It looks delicious. I'm sure it'll be…" And then something caught her eye. "Is this… is this bacon?" She pulled out the sandwich to examine it closer. From what she could tell, it was indeed bacon but it couldn't be. "Or is this tofu bacon?"

"No, it's the real thing."

"Real bacon?" Quinn asked with a slight panic. Rachel nodded nervously. "And you cooked it?"

Again, Rachel gave a nervous nod. "I'm not really sure how you like it, but I did my best and I just hope that you think it's tasty." She started to look sad because she seemed to think that she had disappointed Quinn once more. Her eyes fell down to her feet. Quinn lifted her head back up.

"Rachel no, I'm not upset," she assured her. "It's just that you really didn't have to do this. I know you're vegan; I don't expect you to go cooking meat for me."

"Oh, okay." She smiled a little. "But I wanted to."

"And I'm thankful for that, but you don't have to okay?" Rachel nodded to show that she understood, but something told Quinn that she shouldn't be too surprised if she found that Rachel cooked her more bacon the following day. She felt bad about that, but what was worse was that the sandwich had looked really good and she really wanted to eat it. And of course, she kind of did have to eat it or risk hurting Rachel's feelings… again.

She suppressed her groan until after she was safely inside her first class of the day. It was hard for her to believe, but for once she was actually glad to be away from Rachel. She couldn't really concentrate throughout her lessen. Her mind was solely focused on her girlfriend, but thinking about her only filled Quinn with guilt. When they saw each other again during third period, Quinn hugged Rachel tightly and held onto her for a good few minutes. She got the attention of a few of their classmates but she didn't care in the slightest. Quinn was confident that Shelby would fix things someway, but in the event that she decided to kill her first, Quinn wanted to at least have Rachel in her arms one last time.

After she pulled back Rachel looked up at her with pure adoration. Her cheeks turned pink and then she turned away shyly as she muttered something about getting to their seats. Quinn didn't do her work during that period. She simply made sure that Rachel was okay and consistently told about everything that she loved about her. Rachel was certain that Quinn was just trying to embarrass her because everything she said was just so adorably sweet and would make Rachel blush even more.

But despite her insistence that Quinn stop, Rachel clearly enjoyed the attention. It was nice to see that at least some parts of Rachel's personality seemed to stay intact. That knowledge made Quinn feel a little better. She did her best to make Rachel happy. They always held hands whenever they were near each other. Quinn would hold the door open for Rachel. She would kiss her frequently. They would pass little love notes. It almost seemed like they were any average couple.

When lunch began they headed for the choir room. As they walked, Quinn could tell that Rachel was nervous. She squeezed her hand to get her attention and when Rachel turned to her she said, "I'm going to love it Rachel, okay?" Rachel nodded, still slightly unsure. They headed inside and got comfortable. To ease Rachel's worries, and because she was really eager to see how it tasted, Quinn quickly dug into her sandwich. "Mmm." It was good. It was really good.

"You like it?" Rachel asked hopefully, just to make sure. Quinn would have answered verbally, but her mouth was still full and she wanted to take another bite. She had to settle for nodding her head to which Rachel let out a triumphant squeal. Rachel really was the best girlfriend ever.

Quinn was afraid to lose her. Later in the day she told her that she wanted to visit Beth, and that she had to do it by herself. Rachel had understood and she wasn't at all upset. She actually seemed proud of Quinn. She told her that everything would be okay and that if she needed any help that all she had to do was call and Rachel would be there in a heartbeat. Quinn thanked her with a kiss and then headed off.

She followed the directions that she had and after a while she found herself outside Shelby's house. It was a modest sized building, two stories high. It was average, not the kind of place that one would expect a witch to live in. But then again, one would probably not expect Quinn to be a witch either. Quinn briefly wondered if fictional portrayals of witches and wizards actually held any accuracy. She didn't have enough to go on to determine if they did or didn't.

Under different circumstances she would have planned to ask Shelby questions just like that, but there was a more important matter to deal with. Besides, there was still the possibility that Shelby wasn't a witch. Part of Quinn didn't want Shelby to be a witch, but another part needed her to be a witch. It was kind of lose-lose situation. She headed up to the front porch with her spell book in hand. As Quinn stood outside the front door she took a deep, calming breath before ringing the doorbell.

Complete and utter silence followed. She waited a few seconds and then concluded that there was a chance that Shelby wasn't home. She turned to leave but stopped when she heard someone call out, "I'm coming!" Quinn took another breath. This was it. She waited a bit longer. Soon someone was at the door. Quinn saw the doorknob being turned. The door was pulled open, and on the other side was Shelby. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words got lost in her throat as her eyes met Quinn's. For a moment she stood there slack jawed. Quinn offered a small wave. "Quinn what are you-" Her words stopped the moment she noticed the booked held securely in Quinn's arms. "How did you…" She sighed and let out a cold, humorless laugh.

"I guess you know what this is."

"I do. I suppose you have some questions."

"Yes." Shelby nodded and motioned for Quinn to come inside. She directed her to the living room where Quinn found Beth sitting on the floor. She had a stuffed bear in her hands and she was chewing on one of his ears. She looked so cute, so beautiful. Beth's eyes went up to Quinn. She stared at her for a few seconds, as though she were trying to figure out who this new person was but then she brought her attention back to her bear.

"She's gotten big, hasn't she?" Shelby was behind her now. Quinn nodded, her gaze still focused on her daughter. She wanted so bad to keep her but she knew that it was best to give her up. "Why don't you sit?" Shelby gestured towards the couch. Quinn sat down and Shelby took a seat opposite her. "So, what is it that you want to know?"

Several questions popped in Quinn's mind. There were so many things that she was wondering about, but Rachel was more important that any of that. "How do you- How do you break a love spell?" Shelby shook her head.

"Quinn," she sighed. "Why would you even use one of those?"

"I didn't know it was real. Please, just tell me."

Shelby nodded. "It depends on the spell," she answered. "Which one was it?"


	10. Chapter 10

Quinn opened her spell book to the page that held the love spell she had cast. She handed it Shelby who then looked it over. Only after a second at glancing at the pages, her face turned grim. She slowly shook her head. "What?" Quinn asked, leaning forward in her seat. "What is it? What's wrong? You can fix it can't you?"

"No," Shelby answered solemnly. "I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I mean I can't," Shelby repeated. "This is a very powerful spell."

"But there has to be something that you can-"

"Quinn," Shelby interrupted, raising her voice slightly but not enough to startle Beth. Quinn closed her mouth, fully aware of what the woman in front of her was capable of. "You're familiar with fairy tales, right?" she asked, continuing on without waiting for Quinn's response. "And one thing that all fairy tales teach you is that love is the most powerful of all magic. There is nothing stronger than it."

"I don't understand." Quinn was on the verge of tears. "What are you trying to tell me? If love is so strong, shouldn't I be able to use it to break this spell."

"Normally yes, but this spell creates love and that makes things far more complicated." She closed the spell book and handed it back to Quinn with an apologetic expression on her face. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing that I can do. Just try to be good Quinn." She reached over to give Quinn's shoulder a comforting squeeze but Quinn shook her hand off.

"No." Quinn wasn't ready to give up. "There has to be something. Please Shelby, please."

"Quinn…"

"It's Rachel!" Quinn finally told her. "It's Rachel," she repeated. In an instant, she saw a fire in Shelby's eyes, literally. It might have just been in Quinn's mind, but from what she saw it was as though her eyes had just burst into flames. Her heart stopped, and she right then and there that she was going to die, but as long as Rachel would be okay it was a sacrifice that Quinn was willing to make.

"Rachel?!" Shelby didn't really want an answer. She got up from her seat and although she wasn't especially tall, Shelby seemed to tower over Quinn. Images flashed through Quinn's mind, hundreds upon hundreds of ways that Shelby could end her life. At the moment she wished that she had spent some time learning protective charms, but she guessed that even those wouldn't keep her safe for long. She began to cry. She closed her eyes to fight back her tears and to ready herself for what was to come. And then she heard Beth squeal.

Her eyes snapped open and flew over to her daughter. Shelby was looking at her too. She didn't say a word, but she glanced at Quinn and then exited the living room. Quinn exhaled deeply and then took in a few deep breaths. She went down to the floor and scooted over towards Beth. "Thanks Bethy, I think you just saved mommy." Beth looked up at her for a second and then a second later she was back to playing with her bear. Quinn took a moment to see if Shelby was coming back. She wasn't, so Quinn decided to take some time to watch her daughter. Just looking at her playing, she knew how Shelby must have felt.

The room was silent save for the baby sounds that Beth made. Quinn stayed on the floor, taking what joy she could at seeing her baby girl. It helped her forget, if only temporarily, her current problems. Her reprieve didn't last long though and Quinn soon heard Shelby return to the living room. She looked up her cautiously. Shelby still appeared upset, but at she didn't a murderous glint in her eye. Quinn got up from the floor and retook her seat on the couch.

"So you cast this spell on Rachel?" Shelby asked her, her tone flat. Quinn simply nodded. "And I take it that you've coming looking for me because there have been unwanted side-effects?" Again, Quinn nodded. "Has she been tending to your every whim? Does it seem like her only wish is to make you happy?" Quinn was dumbstruck. Rachel's behavior was exactly as Shelby had described it. Her mouth fell agape, which was enough answer for Shelby. "I see."

"What?" Quinn managed to squeak out. "What is it?"

"Rachel loved you before you used the spell."

"I-I know that," Quinn told her. The truth serum had confirmed as much. "But what does that-" Her mind played back the events of the past few days and then it hit her. Her heart fell and she felt sick. "Wait, wait, is that why… are you telling me that…" Her mind was reeling. She couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true. It couldn't, but it was.

"The spell makes love, Quinn, but it can't make something that's already there."

"And there's nothing you can do?" Quinn tried once more.

"Like I said, there's nothing stronger than love."

Everything grew quiet. Quinn pondered everything she that she had learned. Love was supposed to be stronger than anything. And normally, it would be true love's kiss that would break the spell. But she and Rachel had kissed many times, countless times. Nothing had changed, not once. And now that she better understood how the spell worked, Quinn couldn't figure out how true love's kiss was supposed to work for her.

"So she's going to be stuck like this?" She knew that she wouldn't like the answer, but she had to know if there was even the smallest glimmer of hope that everything would be okay. Shelby looked her straight in the eye. It was as though she were gazing deep into her soul right down to where all the guilt and pain that she was enduring was stored. Her gaze fell and she shook her head.

"I don't know," she admitted grimly, although it sounded more like a yes. "There aren't that many of us nowadays. I suppose that there might be someone out there that knows how to break this spell, but if there is I wouldn't know."

"Us?"

"People who can do magic," Shelby explained. "It's a gift, or a curse, depending on how you look at it. Magic is a great thing, but as you've learned it can be dangerous even if it doesn't appear to be." Quinn could do nothing but agree. She nodded her head as she fought back tears. So much for being a good witch. Like everything else in her life, Quinn had gone and messed this up as well.

"Is that why you gave up the book?" Quinn asked.

"No." Shelby's answer surprised her. Quinn glanced at her with confused eyes. "I've learned everything I could from this spell book," Shelby explained. "Traditionally, I'd pass it on to an apprentice or a child and teach them what I know, but I've never taken on an apprentice and as far as a child goes well…" She didn't need to elaborate further. "Had I known that you were capable of magic, I may have kept it."

"Why? Are you saying that…"

"Yes, Beth here might grow up to be a witch." Quinn turned to her child. Such innocence and yet she might have also held such great power. "It's not a sure thing of course. The possibility is a lot higher if both parents can do magic, but even then it's not a sure thing." She paused then and started to think. She was quiet and so was Quinn. Quinn waited anxiously, still hoping that Shelby would remember something. She shifted in her seat and looked back at Beth, sighing. "Take care of her," Shelby suddenly said. Quinn's eyes jolted to her. "Take care of Rachel," was her request. "I might not have been there for her, but I'm still her mother. Can you just make sure that she's safe and happy?"

"That's all I've ever wanted to do."

And with that the two of them parted ways. Quinn said goodbye to Beth and then went home. She felt broken. She wanted someone to hold her. She wanted Rachel to hold her. Being in Rachel's arms felt warm and good and it made her happy. She wanted that feeling again, but didn't really think that she deserved it. She curled up into a ball on her bed and willed herself to not cry.

But she did. A stream of tears poured from her eyes. Quinn sobbed and wailed, fully grateful that her mother wasn't home yet. But even if she was that probably wouldn't have stopped Quinn from crying. Quinn stayed there for a long time, maybe hours or longer. It was hard to keep track. By the end of it all, her pillow was soaking through. Her body was still shaking and so she slowly got herself into a sitting position. She wrapped her arms around herself as the last tears fell from her eyes.

And then she heard a gasp from her bedroom door. She looked up to find Rachel. She had a hand over her mouth and worried expression on her face. She raced over to Quinn and hugged her tightly. "Oh, Quinn. What's wrong?" She squeezed her and began rubbing comforting circles on her back. It felt nice but Quinn just started crying once more. "Shh, it's okay Quinn. I'm here, everything's okay," she told her again and again.

Quinn knew otherwise though, and she told Rachel just that. "It's not. Nothing's okay."

"It is, it is," Rachel insisted.

"No, please-"

"Quinn, please-"

"No," Quinn said the word with such finality that she was able to get Rachel to stop her fussing if only briefly. Rachel looked apprehensive but she didn't appear to have any intention of arguing. She hugged Quinn once more before pulling back and allowing her to explain. Quinn took a deep breath. She took hold of Rachel's hands. They were soft and warm, and gave Quinn the courage to say what she needed to. "You know I love you right?" Rachel nodded slowly and sincerely. "And I know you love me back, but for the longest time I didn't think you did. I didn't think that you could ever feel the same way about me. And I was so afraid that I could never have you."

"Quinn, I-"

"Rachel, don't. Please, just let me talk." Rachel nodded and allowed her to continue. "I wanted you to love me so much that I did something stupid." Rachel's brows furrowed in confusion. "I found this spell book in this bookstore that I go to. I didn't think that there was any harm in it; it was just fun and games. That was all it was supposed to be, but It was real. If it was real I wouldn't have done it, I swear."

"Quinn what are you talking about?"

"I cast a love spell on you."

"Oh Quinn, you're being silly. There's no such thing. You shouldn't feel bad about that. It wasn't real."

"No, but it was," Quinn cried. "It was real. I can prove it to you." Without waiting for Rachel to respond, Quinn darted out of the room and grabbed a water bottle from the kitchen. She went back upstairs and found a place to set it. "Watch the bottle," she instructed, her eyes pleading with Rachel. Rachel sighed and nodded her head. Quinn closed her eyes and focused her power. It wasn't too difficult the first time, so she knew that she'd be able to perform the spell a second time.

She concentrated, imagining the bottle freezing in her mind. Then she heard Rachel intake a harsh gasp of air. Her eyes opened. The bottle was frozen. Rachel was shocked. Brown eyes looked up at her. There was something familiar in them. Fear, Quinn initially thought. She inched over to try to calm her but Rachel backed away, muttering, "No, you wouldn't." No, it wasn't fear in her eyes. It was hurt. "You wouldn't do this to me."

"Rachel, wait."

"You wouldn't," Rachel repeated, getting up from the bed and heading out towards the door. "You said you loved me."

"Rachel, please." Quinn tried to stop her, but Rachel outmaneuvered her. She was able to slip by but Quinn gave chase. Rachel darted down the stairs and out the front door. Quinn ran after as fast as she could, calling out Rachel's name at the top of her lungs. But Rachel kept running. She just kept going. "Rachel, please! I'm sorry." They went on for a couple of blocks but eventually Rachel gave out. She fell to her knees and cried. Quinn came up to her and hugged her from behind, kneeling down on the sidewalk. "I'm sorry Rachel. I didn't mean for this to happen. I love you, okay? I really do love you."

"I love you too, Quinn."


	11. Chapter 11

It took a bit of coaxing, but eventually Quinn was able to get Rachel back to her house. The two of them walked slowly as Quinn held Rachel in her arms. She had stopped crying by then so their stroll was very quiet. The expression on Rachel's face held only one emotion; hurt. But she didn't even try to push Quinn away so Quinn believed that not all was lost. When they got to her house she led her upstairs and the two of them sat down on her bed.

Rachel was still quiet, but Quinn could tell that she was trying to sort through her feelings; her feelings for Quinn and whether she should hate her or not. Quinn hoped that she chose not to. The silence was practically torture. All she could do was await Rachel's judgment. "I know you're mad. You have every right to be. If you want to break up I'd understand." Her words caught Rachel's attention, and for the first time since she had run off, Rachel looked at her. She really looked at her.

"No," she answered after a few moments. "No, I don't. I don't want to break up with you."

"You don't?"

"No," Rachel repeated. Again everything grew quiet. Briefly their eyes met but then Rachel glanced down at the floor. Quinn carefully reached out for her hand. Rachel didn't fight her. "I do have some questions though." Quinn nodded and gave Rachel's hand a squeeze to show that she understood. Rachel nodded herself. She didn't appear to have any real desire to know any more. "Could you just start at the beginning?"

"Sure." And so Quinn told Rachel everything. She told her about how she found the spell book and how she had cast the spell for fun, and she continued on until she reached present events. Rachel listened patiently, absorbing every word that was told to her. She would nod occasionally gave Quinn's hand an encouraging squeeze, but she did little more than that. Even after Quinn was done, Rachel was still quiet.

She sat with her hands folded neatly in her lap. Rachel was still confused, but then again so was Quinn. She had only known that magic was real for a few days. It was a lot to take in. It seemed like a lifetime before Rachel finally spoke up. "Shelby's a witch?" were her first words. Quinn answered with a nod. "Does that mean that's I'm one too?"

"Maybe," Quinn shrugged. Rachel made a sound of agreement and then grew silent again. "Are you still mad at me?" Rachel looked at her briefly, gazing deep into her eyes. Then she looked away and down at her lap.

"A little," she answered. Of course she was. "But there's something I don't understand."

"What's that?" Quinn asked, shifting in her seat to turn towards Rachel. She scooted in a bit but made sure to give Rachel a fair amount of distance. "I might not know that much about magic, but I'll answer what I can." Rachel smiled at her. It was a small smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes, but it was real and it felt more genuine than the smiles that Quinn had seen from her in the previous days.

"You said that the spell made it that all I cared about was making you happy." Quinn nodded guiltily, but stopped herself from breaking eye contact. It was shameful, what she had done, even if it was an accident. And it hurt to think about, especially since Quinn had so enjoyed that time. She tried to hide her pain but was unsuccessful in doing so. A frown tugged on Rachel's lips and she reached up to cup Quinn's cheek. It looked like she was about to kiss her, but she didn't. "It's not your fault Quinn," she told her, and if only for that second Quinn believed her.

"Yeah, I know. But um, what were you saying?"

"Right. So um, if that's what it did then how was I able to run away?" Quinn opened her mouth to answer, but she stopped as she thought it over. Her brows furrowed. She understood what Rachel was getting at, but she couldn't explain. Brown met hazel. Quinn's heart began to swell with hope. She had just learnt that most anything was possible and maybe just maybe this was as well. Nervously, she started chewing on her lower lip as considered what to do next. "What are you thinking?" Rachel asked her, gently and softly.

Quinn let her eyes drop and asked, "What would you say if I told you that I don't want to go to New York?" She heard Rachel gasp but Quinn continued on before she could actually answer. "If I told you that I don't really like Broadway, and I think that you'd better off going for movies and stuff?" Quinn watched as Rachel's expression changed as she spoke. She looked appalled by the very idea. Clearly Rachel was upset, but Quinn couldn't help but feel just a little happy. "How would you feel about that?"

For a moment Rachel was speechless, but then she suddenly huffed and spun so her back was facing Quinn, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so. "I'd say we'd have to break up and that I'd really miss you. I love you, but I'm not going to give up on my dreams because of you and…" Her words trailed off as it hit her. "You don't really feel that way, do you?" she asked, turning back to face Quinn.

"No, I don't. It was just a test, I guess." And it seemed to prove Quinn's assumption. Without even having to be told, Rachel seemed to know that as well. She looked down at her hands, examining herself to find anything different. "How do you feel?"

"The same," Rachel answered plainly. "Am I supposed to feel any different?"

"I don't know. I wish I did. I just-" And then Rachel kissed. Their lips were only together for a second or two, shorter than any of their previous kisses but it was better than all of them as well. Afterwards Rachel pulled away meekly; suddenly shy over her spontaneous action.

"Thanks," she said softly.

They spent the rest of the day together, doing little more than simply enjoying each other's presence. During their time together Quinn noticed that was different once more. She didn't act like the obedient version of herself that Quinn had gotten accustomed to over the past few days, but at the same time her personality was a bit subdued. She did end up talking quite a lot and two of them even got into a small argument, or discussion as Rachel put it, about movie preferences when they decided to go into the living room and watch something.

Rachel had thrown somewhat of a fit when she found that Quinn owned not a single musical, and that the closest thing that she had would be a plethora of Disney movies. It was cute to watch her and Quinn couldn't help but laugh at her playfully. Rachel in turn ended up getting a bit annoyed but she wasn't mad in the slightest. They ended up watching one of the Disney movies and had fully enjoyed it. Once or twice, they even sang along.

After they were done, Quinn invited Rachel to stay over. In retrospect, Quinn realized that she might have been a little hasty but Rachel said yes and that's all that mattered. She slept in the guestroom, partially so Judy wouldn't suspect anything but mostly because they decided that if they were going to continue going out together than they would slow things down. And Rachel needed some space. Her love was deep enough that she was able to forgive Quinn after she understood everything but that didn't change the fact that she was hurt by what Quinn had done.

Quinn made sure that the room was nicely set up and kissed Rachel on the cheek before heading off into her own room. She slipped under the covers and drifted off to sleep; it easier than she had expected. But knowing that she and Rachel were going to make things work did bring a sense of calm. Everything would be all right. She knew that if she just went on believing that, then everything would be okay eventually.

Halfway through the night, Quinn was woken up when she felt the bed dip behind her. "Oh, sorry," she heard and she flipped over. Beside her was Rachel, looking ever so cute in her pajamas with her hair tied into pigtails. "I didn't mean to wake you, I'm sorry." Quinn shushed her with a wave of her hand.

"It's okay," she assured. "It's nice to see you." Quinn took a moment just to look, although doing so proved to be difficult under the dim lighting. She could just barely make out her form. But just as ever, Rachel looked beautiful. "So, what are you doing here?" Quinn asked after a beat. "Did you have nightmare?" she joked, to which Rachel giggled and shook her head.

"No," she laughed out. "Nothing like that. Not really, at least. I just miss you. Do you mind?"

"Of course not." Quinn scooted over to give Rachel more room. She handed her some of the covers and then tentatively tossed her arm over Rachel's midsection. Rachel hummed her consent and placed her hand over Quinn's. "Goodnight Quinn."

"Goodnight Rachel."

When Quinn woke the following morning Rachel was still in bed with her. It was early so her mother wasn't up yet, but it wouldn't be long before she had to get ready for work. Reluctantly, Quinn roused Rachel. She groaned and fought Quinn's attempts to wake her, but eventually Rachel agreed to get up and to head back into the guestroom so as to keep up appearances. Judy didn't seem to find anything out of the ordinary and the three of them had breakfast together.

Quinn and Rachel went off to school taking their respective cars. Quinn didn't want to smother Rachel so soon after telling her the truth. They agreed to meet up like they had for the past few days. After finding a parking spot, Quinn found Rachel waiting outside the school. She took her hand they walked inside. Rachel seemed nervous. Quinn could feel her hand shaking. It was almost as though it was their first time walking through school together. She squeezed her hand to get her attention and when Rachel turned to her, Quinn flashed her a reassuring smile.

It helped calm her nerves although it was clear that she was still a bit jittery. And she stayed like that for a lot, if not all, of the day. She was shy when displaying shows of affection, but she did show them, if only with soft kisses and hugs. But as the day grew on, her confidence did as well. Even then though, Rachel wouldn't makeout with Quinn for hours, nor would she make a scene to simply show Quinn that she loved her. But she did get into an argument with Santana.

More and more, Quinn's hope grew until school was over and she headed to the parking lot to find Shelby waiting for her. Despite their relatively good interaction previously, Quinn approached her cautiously. "Rachel's been doing well," she said almost immediately.

"I know," Shelby answered simply. Quinn didn't argue; for all she knew, Shelby had been watching them the entire day. And if that were the case, then Quinn was really glad that she and Rachel didn't do anything that was even moderately inappropriate. If they had, then she'd guess that Shelby would not be as amicable. "Thank you Quinn."

"Of course. It's been funny actually," Quinn said, to which Shelby raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Rachel's been acting differently. Since I told the truth, she started acting more and more like herself. Like her real self, I mean. It's almost as though…" Quinn trailed off as she saw the pleased glint in Shelby's eye. "You lied to me," she accused.

"Yes, I did." Shelby didn't even attempt to deny it.

"But why?"

"Because the power of love is hard to harness." Quinn's brows furrowed in confusion. "There's a lot of emphasis on the power of true love's kiss, and while a kiss is a great way to focus that energy, it's the power of love itself and not the kiss that breaks the curse," she explained.

"So… Rachel… is she going be…"

"Yes, she should be fine. Just love her Quinn, and she'll be okay."

"I will. I do. I always have."

"I know. Now take care of her, or else." And with that Shelby disappeared, leaving Quinn with a dumbfounded look upon her face.

"Wow," she breathed out. "I have to learn that spell."

"Quinn!" she heard Rachel call out. Quinn turned around. Rachel ran up to her and hugged her. She pulled back then kissed. With no one around them, Rachel didn't hold back. She threaded her fingers through Quinn's hair and tugged her in close. They stayed like that for a few minutes. "Stay over at my place today," she whispered as she pulled back.

"Anything for you."


End file.
